Of 
CALIFORNIA 

Presented  to  the 

Department  of  Geological  Sciences 
University  of  California  at 
Berkeley,  January  24,  1935 

By 

ABTHITR   SIDMSY  HUSY 
(Graduate   Student) 


O  ~  4 ^. 


ARTH  SCIENCES  LIBRAR 


WALKS  AND  TALKS 


IN 


GEOLOGICAL  FIELD. 


BY 


ALEXANDER  WINCHELL,  LL.D.. 

/,' 

PROFESSOR  OF  GEOLOGY  AND  PALEONTOLOGY  IN  THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  MICHIGAN. 


NEW  YORK: 
CHAUTAUQUA   PRKSS. 

C.  L.  S.  C.  DEPARTMENT,  805  BROADWAY. 
1886. 


The  required  books  of  the  C.  L.  S.  C.  are  recommended 
by  a  Council  of  six.  It  must,  however,  be  understood  that 
recommendation  does  not  involve  an  approval  by  the  Coun- 
cil, or  by  any  member  of  it,  of  every  principle  or  doctrine 
contained  in  the  book  recommended. 


(^s  <^aV  •  <f  \  c.^  (      OC  i «-«-c- ^S 


Copyright,  1886,  by  PHILLIPS  &  HUNT,  805  Broadway,  New  York. 


PREFACE. 


THIS  work  attempts  to  hold  a  position  between  text- 
books and  books  of  light  reading.  The  formal  text- 
book would  not  suit  the  class  of  readers  addressed.  The 
style  of  light  reading  would  have  been  unworthy  of  the 
theme,  and  would  not  have  supplied  the  substantial  infor- 
mation here  intended.  The  writer  has  often  felt  that 
graphic  illustrations  would  have  rendered  portions  of  the 
text  more  intelligible,  and  therefore,  more  entertaining ; 
but  these  would  have  enhanced  the  cost  of  the  book 
beyond  limits  which  for  other  reasons  seemed  desirable. 
The  method  of  treatment  is  simple.  The  reader  be- 
gins with  the  familiar  objects  at  his  very  door.  "His 
observations  are  extended  to  the  field,  the  lake,  the  tor- 
rent, the  valley,  and  the  mountain.  They  widen  over  the 
continent  until  all  the  striking  phenomena  of  the  surface 
have  been  surveyed.  Occasionally,  trains  of  reasoning 
suggested  by  the  facts  are  followed  out  until  the  outlines 
of  geological  theories  emerge.  The  course  of  observation 
and  reasoning  then  penetrates  beneath  the  surface.  The 
various  formations  and  their  most  striking  fossils  are  de- 
scribed, first  in  descending  order,  to  the  oldest.  We  find 
here  indications  of  heat  which  stimulate  speculation  and 
bring  out  the  grounds  of  a  nebular  theory  of  world- 
origin.  From  this  starting  point,  the  treatment  now 
handles  the  subject  in  historical  order,  weaving  into  a 

.931177 


4  PREFACE. 

narrative,  the  dry  facts  previously  noted.  Reaching  the 
end  of  the  history,  the  treatment  pauses  for  retrospect 
and  reflection ;  and  here  are  brought  to  view  some  of  the 
higher  and  more  abstruse  thoughts  connected  with  the 
subject  of  the  book. 

It  is  hoped  the  perusal  of  this  work  may  impart  some 
clear  conceptions  of  that  grand  range  of  scientific  truths 
with  which  it  deals.  It  is  hoped,  also,  that  a  relish  may 
be  stimulated  which  will  seek  its  gratification  in  the 
scholarly  study  of  works  of  higher  range  and  more 
exacting  method. 

THE  AUTHOR. 

ANN  ARBOR,  March,  1886. 


CONTENTS. 


I.  FACTS; 

OR, 

THE  RECORD  GIVEN  US  TO  READ. 

tljc 


PAGE. 
I.    THE  GEOLOGY  AT  OUR  DOORS,  ...........       9 

Surface  Materials. 

II.    LOST  ROCKS,    ...................      13 

Bowlders. 

III.  THE  GRAVEL  PIT,  .................      18 

Arrangement  of  the  Drift. 

IV.  AMONG  THE  GLACIERS,     ..............      24 

Geological  Action  of  Glaciers. 
V.    THE  HILLSIDE  SPRING  AND  ITS  WORK,  .......      30 

Subterranean  Waters  and  their  Deposits. 

VI.    INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  ROCKS,    ...........      35 

Kinds  of  Minerals  and  Stones. 

VII.    THE  FLOODS  OP  THE  GREAT  LAKES,    ........      41 

Lacustrine  Deposits  and  Terraces. 

VIII.    THE  MUD  FLAT,    ..........   .   ......      45 

Sedimentation. 

IX.    THE  RIVER  GORGE,  ...   .............      50 

Erosion. 

X.     A  WALK  UNDER  THE  SEA,     ............     56 

What  goes  on  in  the  Ocean  Depths. 

XI.    BY  THE  ROCKY  WALL,    ..............      62 

Strata  and  their  Classification. 

XII.    MYSTERIOUS  FORMS  OF  LIFE,  ............     67 

Fossils. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 

XIII.  COURSES  OF  THE  EARTH'S  MASONRY,  ......      74 

How  the  formations  are  arranged. 

XIV.  A  WALK  IN  THE  YELLOWSTONE  PARK,  .....      79 

Thermal  Waters. 

XV.    AMONG  THE  VOLCANOES,  ............     85 

Indications  of  Internal  Fires. 

XVI.    FROZEN  SEAS  OF  LAVA,    ........   .   .   .   .      91 

Ancient  Lavas. 

XVII.    IMPRISONED    HEAT,    ..............      96 

Internal  Condition  of  the  Earth. 

XVIII.    THE  UNSTABLE  LAND,  .............    102 

Phenomena  and  Causes  of  Earthquakes. 

XIX.    THE  FRAMEWORK  OF  THE  MOUNTAINS,    .....    108 
Mountain  Structures. 

XX.    How  THE  MOUNTAIN  FRAMEWORK  is  REARED  .   .    113 
Mountain  Formation. 

XXI.    DOWN  IN  A  MINE,  ...............    119 

Modes  of  Occurence  of  the  Metals. 

XXII.    THE  KING  OF  METALS,     ............    125 

Iron  and  Its  Geology. 

XXIII.  THE  CRYSTALS  OF  THE  SEA,   ..........    130 

Salt  and  Gypsum. 

XXIV.  LIQUID  SUNLIGHT,  ...........   ....    135 

Petroleum. 

XXV.    GASEOUS  SUNLIGHT,    ......       •   •   .....    141 

Natural  Gas  —  Its  Wonders  and  its  Geology. 

XXVI.    SOLIDIFIED  SUNLIGHT,   .............    149 

Coal  and  Coal-Beds. 

3^ttt<m0  th* 

XXVII.     MONSTERS  OF  A  BURIED  WORLD,  ........    154 

Extinct  -Quaternary  Mammals. 

XXVIII.    THE  CEMETERIES  OF  THE  BAD  LANDS,    .....    162 
Tertiary  Fossils. 

XXIX.    LESSON  FROM  A  LUMP  OP  CHALK,    ......    167 

Mesozoic  Rocks  and  Fossils. 


CONTENTS.  7 

PAGE. 

XXX.    LONE  BURIALS  IN  THE  COAL  LANDS, 173 

Coal  Measure  Fossils. 

XXXI.    TERRIBLE  FISHES  AND  THEIR  COMPANIONS,    .   .   .    178 
Remains  of  the  Devonian  Age. 

XXXII.    ANCESTRY  OF  THE  PEARLY   NAUTILUS, 184 

Silurian  Remains. 

XXXIII.  THE    KING-CRAB'S    GRANDFATHER     AND    OTHER 

GRANDFATHERS, 190 

Cambrian  Fossils. 

XXXIV.  EARTH'S  DEEPEST  GRAVES, 197 

The  Eozoic  Animal. 

XXXV.    AN  EARLIER  BEGINNING, 202 

Intimations  of  a  Fiery  Mon. 


II.  HISTORICAL  GLIMPSES; 

OB, 

STORY    OF   THE   WORLD   SET   IN    ORDER. 

XXXVI.    GATHERING  WORLD-STUFF, 208 

Wandering  Germs  of  Worlds. 

XXXVII.    THE  WHIRLING  FIRE-MIST, 214 

Nebular  Theory  of  World  Origin. 

XXXVIII.    THE  PRIMEVAL  STORM, 219 

Origin  of  the  Ocean. 

XXXIX.    THE  WAR  IN  THE  OCEAN, 224 

The  Earliest  Strata. 

XL.    THE  WORLD  WITHOUT  A  BACK-BONE,  ......    230 

Reign  of  Invertebrates. 

XLI.    THE  DYNASTY  OF  FISHES, 236 

Devonian  and  Carboniferous  Times. 

XLII.    SCENES  FROM  THE  COAL  PERIOD, 241 

How  the  Coal-Beds  were  Formed. 

XLIIL    THE  REPTILE  MONARCHIES, 246 

Mesozoic  Events. 


XLIV. 


XLV. 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

MAMMALIAN  EULE,  .   .  , 252 

Csenozoic  Times. 


ANTICIPATION  AND  RETROSPECT  IN  LIFE-PLANS,   .    258 
Comprehensive  Types. 

XLVI.    THE  THROES  OP  THE  CONTINENT, .    264 

How  the  Land  Grew. 

XL VII.    THE  REIGN  OF  ICE, 270 

Continental  Glaciation. 

XLVIII.    A  GEOLOGIC  SPRING  TIME,       275 

Incidents  of  the  Champlain  Epoch. 

0 

XLIX.    THE  EARTH  RECEIVES  HER  KING, 281 

Advent  of  Man. 


III.  RETROSPECT; 

OB, 

HOW  THE  STORY  OF  THE  WORLD  IMPRESSES  US. 

L.    THE  ABYSS  OF  CENTURIES,      . 288 

The  Age  of  the  World. 

LI.    THE  METHOD  OF  CREATION,       294 

The  Question  of  Evolution. 

LII.    THE  HUMAN  FACTOR  IN   THE   WORLD'S   VICISSI- 
TUDES,     300 

Man  in  the  Light  of  Science. 

LIII.    MIND  IN  MATTER, 306 

The  Interpretation  of  Nature. 

LIV.    ONE  EMPIRE,     .   .   .   .  ' ' .    312 

The  Unity  of  Nature. 


WALKS  AND  TAIiRS.O 

^ "  •  '»         •  •    »0      »        '»    J,»      i*» 

I. 

FACTS; 

OR,  THE  RECORD  GIVEN  U£  TO  READ. 


AMONG  THE  ROCKS. 

I.    THE  GEOLOQY  A.T  OUR  DOORS. 

SURFACE   MATERIALS. 

COME,  John  and  Jennie — come,  George  and  Julia — let  us 
have  a  talk  about  GEOLOGY.  Come,  John's  mother  and 
aunt — come  every  body  that  wishes — we  shall  find  some  of 
the  most  delightful  things  to  talk  about  which  any  body  ever 
heard  of.  Now  "Geology"  may  sound  like  a  hard  word; 
and  perhaps  you  have  no  curiosity  to  know  any  thing  about 
it.  But  do  not  decide  too  soon,  for  if  you  know  nothing 
about  Geology,  you  can  't  know  what  interest  there  is  in  it. 
Take  my  word  for  to-day — you  will  find  the  subject  easy  and 
delightful. 

We  shall  travel  all  over  the  world.  We  shall  climb  over 
mountain-cliffs  and  descend  into  deep  mines.  We  shall  go 
down  under  the  sea,  and  make  the  acquaintance  of  creatures 
that  dwell  in  the  dark  and  slimy  abysses.  We  shall  split  the 
solid  rocks  and  find  where  the  gold,  the  silver,  and  the  iron 
are  hidden.  We  shall  open  the  stony  tombs  of  the  world's 
mute  populations.  We  shall  plunge  through  thousands  of 
ages  into  the  past,  and  shall  sit  on  a  pinnacle  and  see  this 


10  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

planet  bathed  in  the  primitive  ocean ;  boiled  in  the  seething 
water ;  roasted  in  ancient  fires ;  distorted,  upheaved,  moulded, 
and  reshaped  again  and  again,  in  a  long  process  of  prepara- 
tion to  feecbjrfe;  ;fi;t  for  us  to  dwell  upon  it.  We  shall  see  a 
long  prbcessio'n  *oT' 'strange  creatures  coming  into  view  and 
•li.-appeanpgj— siich  a  menagerie  of  curious  beasts  and  crawl- 
ing and  cfe'epirTg*  aird  flying  things  as  never  yet  marched 
through  the  streets  of  any  town.  And  what  is  most  wonder- 
ful of  all,  we  shall  plunge  through  thousands  of  ages  of  com- 
ing events,  and  sit  on  our  pinnacle  and  see  the  world  grow 
old — all  its  human  populations  vanished — its  oceans  dried 
up — its  sun  darkened,  and  silence  and  midnight  and  Winter 
reigning  through  the  entire  province  in  which  a  sisterhood  of 
planets  at  present  basks  in  the  warmth  and  light  of  a  central 
and  paternal  sun. 

.  Do  you  feel  no  curiosity  over  these  wonderful  themes  ? 
These  all  belong  to  Geology.     Come,  let  us  begin. 

But  we  must  begin  at  the  beginning.  Those  who  go  on 
long  and  pleasant  journeys  have  to  start  from  their  own  door- 
steps. Geology  tells  all  about  this  world.  The  world  is  here — 
under  our  feet.  It  is  in  the  garden  and  along  the  road-side, 
and  in  the  field,  and  on  the  shore  where  the  summer  ripples 
sing  lullabies  to  the  sleepy  crags,  and  winter  storms  tear 
them  from  their  resting-places.  No  summer  ripples  or  wintry 
storms  are  here ;  but  the  solid  land  is  here.  Let  us  walk  up 
this  hill-slope  and  sit  where  we  may  get  an  outlook  over  a 
little  piece  of  the  world's  surface. 

What  is  there,  now,  within  reach  of  our  vision  that  we 
can  distinguish  and  describe  and  say  that  it  belongs  to  the 
world — is  a  part  of  the  world  ?  Whatever  it  may  be,  it  is  a 
geological  fact.  It  is  a  part  of  the  science  of  geology.  Now, 
here  is  this  hill-slope,  and  the  soil  and  stones  which  make  it. 
Back  of  us  the  hill  rises  to  a  higher  level.  Perhaps  brown 
cliffs  frown  near  its  summit;  and  there  are  huge,  heavy  trees 
upborne  five  hundred  feet  above  the  town.  But,  in  the  op- 
posite direction,  there  is  the  landscape.  That  is  a  geological 
fact.  With  all  its  scenic  beauty,  that  is  geology,  at  founda- 


GEOLOGY  AT  OUR  DOORS.  11 

tion.  The  houses  and  the  herds,  the  wheat-fields  and  the 
gardens — these  are  accessories.  But  the  dark,  beetle-browed 
ridge  which  skirts  the  horizon — that  is  nature's.  The  green 
forest  which  glides  down  to  the  field  borders ;  the  stream  which 
winds  across  the  landscape,  and  rises  and  falls  with  the  rains ; 
the  low  swells  and  the  valleys  between ;  the  outcropping  ledge 
in  the  field,  and  the  loose  stone  by  the  road-side — these  belong 
to  nature.  There,  in  the  distance,  flies  the  train  of  steam-cars, 
its  iron-bound  way  has  been  cut  through  hill  and  rock-mass, 
and  opens  to  our  view  something  of  the  hidden  material 
which  goes  to  form  the  world.  There  is  the  meadow,  with  its 
green  turf  and  deep,  dark  soil.  The  gully  scored  in  the  hill- 
side by  the  summer  storm,  and  the  train  of  stones  and  sand 
at  its  foot — which  the  water  tore  from  their  hiding-places  be- 
neath the  soil.  Up  the  stream  we  see  the  tamarack  swamp 
or  the  open  marsh,  through  which  the  head-waters  flow — the 
head-waters  of  the  main  stream  or  of  some  small  tributary. 
There,  just  beyond,  is  the  little  lake  or  pond,  sleeping  in  its 
green-fringed  nest,  and  looking  out  on  the  grass-covered 
slopes  and  the  blue  sky. 

How  charming  is  all  this  scenery !  How  many  times,  im- 
bued with  the  love  of  nature,  we  have  strolled  on  the  borders 
of  this  quiet  lakelet,  or  lounged  on  the  green  slope,  which 
seemed  set,  like  an  amphitheater,  to  accommodate  the  visitor, 
who  loves  to  look  upon  the  scene.  Perhaps,  as  urchins  stray- 
ing from  school,  or  getting  the  most  out  of  a  Saturday  holiday, 
we  have  angled  along  this  brook,  or  paddled  our  skiff  over 
this  pond.  Perhaps  in  wonderment  we  have  seen  the  artist 
from  the  city,  with  easel  and  brush  reproducing  on  canvas 
the  beauty  of  this  simple  landscape,  thinking  to  win  a  prize 
in  the  Academy  of  Art,  or  at  least  to  afford  the  pent-up 
dwellers  in  the  dusty  town  the  luxury  of  knowing  how  lav- 
ishly the  beauties  of  nature  are  strewn  before  the  gaze  of  those 
who  dwell  here  in  this  agricultural  vale — in  this  quiet  hamlet 
which  Providence  has  made  our  home. 

This  is  all  geology.  We  are  in  the  midst  of  it.  We  have 
been  enchanted  by  it  before  we  knew  its  name.  We  have 


12  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

admired  the  forms  fashioned  in  beauty  by  the  hands  of  the 
geological  forces  before  we  knew  that  it  had  a  geological 
origin,  or  possessed  any  geological  significance,  or  had  passed 
through  long  ages  of  preparation.  We  have  been  like  chil- 
dren born  in  the  parental  dwelling,  reared  in  the  midst  of  its 
comforts  and  adornments,  without  once  thinking  that,  before 
we  were  born,  some  mind  planned  the  dwelling,  some  hands 
reared  its  walls,  laid  its  floors,  and  fashioned  every  doorway 
and  casing.  Now,  this  terrestrial  dwelling,  with  all  its  beau- 
ties and  conveniences,  its  wonders  and  sublimities,  is  something 
to  set  us  thinking;  just  as  we  reflected,  when  the  thought  first 
came  into  our  minds,  that  father's  house  has  had  a  history, 
and  was  the  product  of  study  and  labor,  which  we  had  never  be- 
fore considered.  The  green  slope  was  made ;  the  pretty  lake  was 
scooped  out ;  the  swelling  hill  was  shaped  ;  the  dark  mountain 
was  upbuilt,  its  foundations  were  laid,  its  vast  weight  has 
been  sustained  and  is  to-day  sustained  by  some  support,  with 
strength  proportioned  to  the  requirement.  It  is  time  for  us  to 
come  to  a  realization  of  these  facts. 

We  may  begin  in  this  very  spot  to  inquire  how  this  ter- 
restrial home  was  fashioned.  It  was  made  without  hands,  but 
not  without  the  use  of  the  same  forces  of  nature  and  proper- 
ties of  matter  as  were  employed  in  the  building  of  our  paternal 
dwelling.  Its  plan  was  not  drafted  on  paper  and  carried  out 
under  the  direction  of  a  builder,  who  issued  his  orders  in 
audible  tones ;  but  our  terrestrial  abode  is  built  under  a  plan 
just  as  real  and  just  as  intelligible,  and  is  just  as  truly  a  fit 
subject  for  study.  There  is  this  difference,  that  we  may  ar- 
rive at  a  complete  understanding  of  the  plan,  and  purposes, 
and  modes  of  construction  of  the  paternal  home  ;  but  of  the 
terrestrial  home  we  can  only  arrive  at  an  incomplete  under- 
standing. As  far  as  we  proceed,  the  methods  of  understand- 
ing and  interpreting  are  the  same ;  but  the  whole  plan,  in  its 
depth,  and  breadth,  and  complications  surpasses  our  powers, 
and  we  must,  like  young  children,  content  ourselves  with  a 
comprehension  of  some  of  the  most  obvious  things — sure  that 
if  our  powers  were  loftier,  we  might  proceed  in  the  same  way 


LOST  ROCKS.  13 

to  understand  more  difficult  things  in  the  plans  and  methods 
of  world-making. 

If  we  decide  to  interest  ourselves  in  the  inquiry,  How  the 
world  was  made  and  what  it  has  become,  we  must  first  give 
attention  to  the  materials  of  which  it  is  composed.  It  is  a 
stone  dwelling;  it  is  imperishable — at  least  as  imperishable 
as  granite  foundations  and  massive  courses  of  masonry  can 
render  a  structure.  Here  are,  indeed,  beds  of  gravel  and 
sand,  overspreading  the  greater  part  of  the  country.  These 
are  not  firmly  consolidated,  and  are  easily  moved  out  of  place. 
But  they  are  like  the  gravel  used  on  the  roofs  of  some  build- 
ings— a  very  insignificant  part  of  the  whole.  Underneath 
these  loose  materials  we  shall  find  the  solid  and  enduring 
foundations.  But  the  study  of  the  loose  surface  materials  is 
full  of  interest,  because  their  presence  renders  the  earth  hab- 
itable. What  sort  of  a  home  for  man  or  beast  would  this 
planet  be,  if  all  the  loose  surface  beds  were  cleared  off  down 
to  the  rocky  floor  on  which  they  rest?  Did  you  ever  hear 
that  question  asked  before  ?  We  must,  by  all  means,  begin 
with  the  stones,  and  sands,  and  clays,  which  lie  upon  the  sur- 
face, or  near  the  surface,  and  try  to  ascertain  what  they  are 
and  how  they  are  arranged,  and  of  what  use  they  are  to  man. 
Do  you  think  we  had  better  proceed? 


II.    LOST  ROCKS. 

BOWLDERS. 

WHO  cares  for  a  cobble-stone  ?  It  is  a  kind  of  nuisance 
anywhere — so  most  people  think.  The  farmer  would  be  glad  to 
have  every  one  of  them  carted  from  his  fields.  I  have  seen  land 
so  thickly  covered  by  them  as  to  be  almost  impossible  to  cul- 
tivate. In  some  regions  near  the  coast,  in  New  England,  the 
loose  rounded  stones  lie  so  close  over  hundreds  of  acres  that 
I  have  traveled  by  simply  stepping  from  stone  to  stone. 

You  will  notice  that  cobble-stones  are  of  various  sizes.  In 
fact,  it  is  difficult  to  state  where  a  cobble-stone  is  small  enough 


14  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

to  be  called  a  "  pebble,"  and  just  where  it  is  too  large  to  be  a 
cobble-stone.  Pebbles  differ  from  them  only  in  size.  Pebbles 
are  hard  and  rounded,  and  seem  formed  of  the  same  kinds  of 
rocks ;  and  the  large,  rounded,  loose  stones,  which  lie  scattered 
over  the  earth's  surface,  are  in  every  respect  only  a  larger 
style  of  cobble-stones.  It  is  plain  that  these  are  all  one  class 
of  rocks.  So  it  has  been  decided ;  and  geologists  call  them 
bowlders.  This  is  an  old  name  used  by  common  people  before 
the  science  of  geology  existed,  because  these  stones  are  rounded 
like  balls  or  boUs;  and,  being  loose  on  the  surface,  are  apt  to 
be  bowled  about.  Even  grains  of  gravel  and  sand  appear  to 
be  of  the  same  nature  as  bowlders.  You  will  also  notice, 
especially,  that  these  rocks  are  all  separate  and  detached,  as 
well  as  rounded,  and  they  are  of  various  colors  and  mix- 
tures of  colors.  They  are  apparently  different  kinds  of 
rocks,  which  by  some  means  have  been  brought  promiscuously 
together.  Ledges  of  rock,  which  you  must  have  noticed  many 
times,  are  generally  all  one  kind  of  rock.  They  extend  long 
distances,  and  continue  under  the  earth.  Should  a  ledge  of 
rocks  become  broken  up,  and  the  fragments,  large  and  small, 
have  their  angles  rounded  off,  and  the  whole  then  be  scattered 
over  a  township,  far  from  the  ledge,  the  result  would  be  much 
like  what  we  see  in  our  actual  bowlders.  From  all  we  know 
of  rocks  we  are  constrained  to  believe  that  our  bowlders  are 
rounded  fragments  of  broken  up  ledges.  But  where  are  the 
ledges?  Not  in  the  next  township  or  county.  Perhaps  not  in 
the  next  state  or  province.  They  have  strayed  far  away  from 
their  native  ledges.  They  are  "  lost  rocks."  Now,  it  would 
be  very  interesting  to  know  where  the  parent  ledges  are ;  and 
it  is  curious  how  these  fragments  have  been  transported  so  far, 
and  how  they  became  so  rounded,  instead  of  remaining  angu- 
lar, like  the  stones  blasted  from  a  quarry. 

Indeed,  the  more  we  think  about  this,  the  more  astonishing 
the  facts  appear ;  for  we  call  to  mind  that  just  such  bowlders 
are  scattered  all  over  our  northern  states,  and  they  lie  buried 
beneath  the  surface  in  countless  numbers.  And  the  very  sand 
and  gravel,  to  the  depth  of  many  feet,  is  only  the  same  kind 


LOST  ROCKS.  15 

of  material  in  a  finer  state.  What  an  incalculable  amount  of 
work  has  been  accomplished  in  transporting  all  these  materials 
so  far  that  the  places  from  which  they  came  have  been  lost, 
and  can  not  be  found.  Suppose  it  were  necessary  to  cart  all 
the  loose  stuff  on  a  township  to  a  distance  only  one  mile  fur- 
ther, on  what  terms  do  you  think  the  contract  would  be 
taken?  But  all  that  stuff  has  been  moved — not  one  mile 
alone,  but  many  miles,  to  a  certainty.  And  not  alone  the 
stuff  on  a  township,  but  the  stuff  on  ten  thousand  townships. 
The  work  was  not  done,  you  say,  by  the  slow  process  of  haul- 
ing in  carts.  No,  indeed ;  but  it  was  done  somehow,  and  it 
is  the  same  job  whether  performed  by  Nature's  method  or  by 
human  muscle.  Think  of  that. 

Now,  what  do  you  imagine  was  Nature's  method?  Would 
it  not  be  a  grand  discovery  if  we  could  find  out?  It  was 
Agassiz  that  ascertained  this,  and  the  discovery  gained  him 
great  fame.  But  there  were  others  who  came  very  near  to 
the  same  discovery.  Suppose  we  could  stand  by  and  see 
Nature  in  the  midst  of  the  job — carting  and  dumping  on  the 
bare  surface  of  the  rocks,  the  gravel  and  sand  and  clay  so  in- 
dispensable to  render  the  surface  of  the  earth  habitable  for 
man  or  beast  or  plant.  I  think  we  should  consider  it  a  grand 
revelation  of  the  method  and  mind  of  the  Author  of  nature. 
I  am  happy  to  assure  you  that  we  have  found  out  pretty  pre- 
cisely how  this  immense  and  beneficent  work  was  done ;  and 
this  knowledge  is  a  part  of  geology,  and  we  are  intending  to 
talk  these  matters  over  until  you  grasp  the  knowledge.  That 
is,  we  shall  put  you  where  you  will  be  as  a  bystander  gazing 
on  the  progress  of  the  great  work  as  Nature  herself  car- 
ries it  on. 

Many  bowlders  attain  to  dimensions  which  are  truly  enor- 
mous. The  largest  are  found  in  northern  New  England  and 
Canada.  As  we  proceed  southward,  the  average  size  dimin- 
ishes, and  south  of  the  parallel  of  Cincinnati,  bowlders  are 
entirely  wanting,  except  along  the  Appalachians.  In  New 
Hampshire  are  many  immense  bowlders,  which  have  excited 
the  wonder  of  all  who  have  seen  them.  Several  of  these  have 


16  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

been  described  and  figured  by  Professor  C.  H.  Hitchcock  in 
his  Report  on  the  Geology  of  New  Hampshire.  The  Churchill 
Rock  of  Nottingham  is  62  feet  long,  40  feet  wide  and  40  feet 
high.  It  contains  75,000  cubic  feet,  and  weighs  6,000  tons. 
Close  by  is  Chase  Rock,  40  feet  long,  40  feet  high  and  30 
feet  wide.  Vessel  Rock,  in  Gilsum,  now  split  by  frost, 
weighed  2,286  tons.  The  Green  Mountain  Giant,  in  Whit- 
tingham,  Vermont,  weighs  3,000  tons;  and  a  bowlder  for- 
merly existing  at  Fall  River,  Massachusetts,  weighed  5,400 
tons.  At  St.  Ignace,  in  the  Upper  Peninsula  of  Michigan, 
lies  a  porphyry  bowlder  25  feet  in  height.  Mr.  G.  M. 
Dawson,  in  his  report  on  the  geology  of  the  North-west  Terri- 
tory, describes  a  quartzite  bowlder  42  feet  long,  40  feet  wide 
and  20  feet  high,  and  another  nearly  as  large.  It  appears 
that  the  greater  part  of  North  America,  down  to  the  latitude 
of  Cincinnati,  is  overstrewn  by  incoherent  materials  contain- 
ing bowlders.  The  situation  is  similar  in  Europe ;  and  there, 
also,  certain  "lost  rocks"  or  "erratics"  attain  vast  dimen- 
sions. The  "  Pierre  a  bot  (or  Toad-stone),  on  the  Jura  Moun- 
tains, about  two  miles  west  of  Neufchatel,  contains  40,000 
cubic  feet,  and  weighs  3,000  tons.  As  far  south  as  the  Lake 
of  Como,  bowlders  of  large  size  are  very  frequently  en- 
countered. 

Often  these  lost  rocks  lie  perched  on  the  summits  of  sharp 
cliffs ;  and  sometimes  we  find  them  so  nicely  poised  that  the 
strength  of  a  man  suflices  to  give  them  a  tilt.  They  are  then 
called  "  rocking  stones."  In  Hanover,  New  Hampshire,  half 
a  mile  east  of  Dartmouth  College,  is  a  rocking  stone  12  feet 
long,  10  feet  wide,  5^-  feet  thick,  containing  480  cubic  feet. 
In  Goffstown  is  one  8  feet  high  and  42  feet  in  circumference. 
In  Barre,  Massachusetts,  is  one  having  a  smaller  bowlder  on 
its  back,  which,  when  in  motion,  suggests  the  idea  of  a 
child's  rocking  horse.  One  in  Fall  River,  poised  on  granite, 
weighs  160  tons. 

We  find  bowlders  at  various  altitudes,  from  the  level  of 
the  sea,  to  the  height  of  perhaps  six  thousand  feet ;  but  above 
this,  though  rock  fragments  are  extremely  numerous,  they 


LOST  ROCKS.  17 

are  mostly  angular,  and  appear  to  be  derived  from  rocky 
ledges  close  by.  They  are  not  "  lost  rocks."  The  summit  of 
Mt.  Washington  is  covered  by  a  bed  of  angular  fragments, 
and  such  fragments  are  common  for  two  thousand  feet  below 
the  summit.  Lower  than  this,  rounded  bowlders  are  abun- 
dant. Professor  C.  H.  Hitchcock,  however,  thinks  he  finds 
real  transported  rocks  to  the  very  summit.  The  great  quartz- 
ite  bowlder  in  the  North-west  Territory,  Canada,  is  3,250  feet 
above  sea-level.  Many  others  in  that  part  of  the  continent 
are  up  to  4,400  feet  in  elevation ;  and,  in  one  region,  attain 
5,280  feet.  Some  erratics  on  the  flanks  of  the  Sweet  Grass 
Hills  lie  at  an  elevation  of  4,660  feet.  The  Pierre  a  bot,  in 
Switzerland,  is  800  feet  above  Lake  Neufchatel,  which  lies 
itself  1,427  feet  above  sea-level. 

We  observe,  in  passing  over  the  country,  that  the  larger 
bowlders  are  northward ;  while  toward  the  south,  their  aver- 
age size  diminishes  to  cobble-stones,  and  finally,  all  indications 
of  transported  rocks  disappear.  Since  we  have  concluded 
that  all  these  lost  rocks  have  been  removed  from  extensive 
ledges  somewhere,  it  seems  probable  that  the  direction  of  these 
ledges  is  to  the  north.  We  notice  also,  that  bowlders  of  any 
particular  kind  become  more  numerous,  as  well  as  larger,  as 
we  proceed  northward.  In  fact,  in  some  cases,  by  following 
up  a  train  of  bowlders  of  a  particular  kind,  we  trace  them  to 
their  origin.  That  origin  is  often  sixty  or  one  hundred  miles, 
or  even  two  hundred  miles  away.  Such  are  the  distances  to 
which  the  forces  of  Nature  have  moved  much  of  these  inco- 
herent materials. 

It  is  not  always  possible  to  trace  bowlders  to  their  source 
by  following  back  a  train.  But  we  can  always  consider  where 
is  the  nearest  locality  of  bed-rocks  of  the  same  kind  as  any 
particular  bowlders.  For  instance,  in  Connecticut,  we  can 
find  bed-rocks  sometimes,  in  the  near  vicinity,  but  at  other 
times,  not  farther  away  than  Massachusetts.  In  Ontario,  the 
nearest  sources  of  the  bowlders  are  in  the  regions  east  and 
north  of  Georgian  Bay.  At  Chautauqua,  the  nearest  bed- 
rock for  the  hard  bowlders  is  beyond  Lake  Ontario  and  Lake 

2  " 


18  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

Simcoe.  In  Michigan,  the  nearest  source  is  north  of  Lake 
Huron  and  south  of  Lake  Superior.  So  in  Indiana,  Illinois, 
and  the  north-west  generally,  we  must  go  northward  to  find 
rocks  in  place  which -are  of  the  same  sorts  as  the  bowlders. 
This  is  plainly  demonstrated  in  the  case  of  bowlders  of  native 
copper,  which  are  frequently  found  in  Wisconsin,  Illinois, 
Indiana,  Michigan,  and  Ohio.  Therfe  is  no  other  credible 
source  than  the  native  copper  region  south  of  Lake  Superior. 
So,  in  the  case  of  the  Pierre  a  bot,  near  Neufchatel,  the 
nearest  credible  source  is  the  Mont  Blanc  chain  of  Alps,  sev- 
enty miles  distant,  and  separated  by  the  valley  of  Switzerland 
and 'the  Lake  of  Geneva. 

We  seem  authorized  to  conclude,  therefore,  that  the 
bowlders  have  been  transported  generally  from  the  north; 
that  many  of  them  have  been  moved  one  or  two  hundred 
miles;  that  they  have  sometimes  been  borne  over  regions 
which  are  now  lake-basins;  that  they  have  been  carried,  at 
times,  to  higher  levels  than  their  origin,  and  much  higher 
than  valleys  over  which  they  passed ;  that  a  vast  mass  of  sand, 
gravel,  and  clay  was  moved  with  them,  since  they  lie  imbed- 
ded in  these  accumulations,  to  the  depth,  sometimes,  of  one 
or  two  hundred  feet. 

These  conclusions  will  be  borne  in  mind  when  we  come  to 
seek  for  the  nature  of  that  tremendous  agency  which  could 
have  performed  so  vast  a  work  over  all  the  northern  half  of 
at  least  two  continents.  (Talks  IV  and  XL VII.) 


III.    THE  GRAVEL  F»rr. 

ARRANGEMENT   OF   THE   DRIFT. 

SHALL  we  proceed  ?  This  subject  has  its  alphabet,  like 
most  others ;  and  every  child  can  testify  that  there  is  little 
inspiration  in  the  alphabet.  A  few  more  letters  of  our  alpha- 
bet will  be  found  in  the  arrangement  of  the  loose  materials 
which  cover  the  surface  of  the  northern  states.  These  ma- 
terials are  called  Drift.  The  bowlders  are  a  part  of  the  Drift 


THE  GEAVEL  PIT.  19 

Now  we  wish  to  know  more  about  the  internal  constitution 
of  this  deposit.  This  will  be  easy,  for  the  Drift  is  all  about 
us,  and  numberless  deep  excavations  have  been  made  for  sun- 
dry purposes.  Let  us  visit  a  gravel  pit,  or  some  deep  railroad 
cut  through  a  pile  of  these  incoherent  materials. 

Do  you  find  these  loose  sands  and  gravels  arranged  in 
regular  courses  ?  Yes,  you  say ;  and  then  you  hesitate ;  and 
well  you  may;  for  the  semblance  of  courses  is  exceedingly 
interrupted.  Here  is  indeed,  a  layer  or  bed,  or  stratum  of 
sand,  but  it  thins  out  in  one  direction,  and  in  the  other, 
loses  its  upper  and  lower  boundaries,  and  merges  in  a  general 
mass  of  sand.  Here  is  a  bed  of  gravel,  but  it  lies  at  a  dif- 
ferent inclination  from  the  last,  and  in  one  direction  it  changes 
to  sand,  while  in  the  other,  it  becomes  split  up  into  a  num- 
ber of  subordinate  layers  which  bend  down  and  lose  themselves. 
This  bed  also  is  composed  of  many  oblique  laminae,  coarser 
and  finer  in  alternation,  which  are  cut  off  completely  by  the 
upper  and  lower  surfaces  of  the  bed  or  stratum.  What  is 
singular,  the  very  next  bed  below  this,  which  is  also  obliquely 
laminated,  has  its  laminae  tilted  in  the  opposite  direction. 
And  then  next  to  this  is  a  long  straight  course  of  cobble- 
stones and  pebbles.  Is  not  this  a  correct  description  of  what 
you  have  all  seen  somewhere  ? 

In  some  places  are  large  beds  of  fine  sand,  which  are 
taken  out  and  used  for  mortar-making.  In  others  we  find 
extensive  deposits  of  gravel  and  pebbles,  which  are  used  for 
paths  and  streets.  Mixed  in  the  sands  are  some  cobble-stones 
and  large  bowlders.  Here  and  there,  too,  are  some  beds  con- 
taining much  clay  ;  and  these  are  impervious  to  water.  Now, 
all  this  is  not  a  regular  nor  a  perfect  bedding  or  stratification. 
We  may  say  the  Drift  here  is  semi-stratified.  You  can  all 
recall  some  locality  where  this  arrangement  of  materials 
occurs. 

This  cut  or  exposure,  however,  extends  only  fifteen  or 
twenty  feet  down.  How  is  the  arrangement  below?  There 
are  places  where  the  bed-rock  is  not  reached  in  less  than  a 
hundred  or  two  hundred  feet.  There  are  wells  fifty  to  eighty 


20  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

feet  deep,  without  reaching  bed-rock.  Those  who  have  seen 
such  wells  have  observed  the  deeper  structure  of  the  Drift ; 
and  they  report  it  much  like  what  we  see  in  the  gravel-pit.  I 
will  tell  you  how  we  shall  ascertain  the  arrangement  to  the 
depth  of  perhaps  two  hundred  feet.  Go  to  the  lake-shore,  or 
the  sea-shore.  Of  course  it  must  be  a  place  where  the  shore 
is  not  formed  of  bed-rocks.  Here  the  whole  thickness  of  the 
Drift  may  be  cut  through,  exposing  at  the  bottom  the  solid 
foundation  on  which  the  Drift  reposes.  Well,  here  we  find 
two  kinds  of  Drift.  The  semi-stratified  Drift  passes  down 
into  a  sheet  of  Drift  quite  unstratified.  It  consists  of  blue 
clay  and  a  large  quantity  of  imbedded  bowlders.  These  are 
rounded  like  those  at  the  surface.  They  are  in  every  respect 
the  same  thing — made,  apparently,  by  the  same  agency ;  trans- 
ported in  the  same  company.  This  is  the  Bowlder  Clay 
or  Till 

We  must  state,  however,  that  in  some  situations  the  semi- 
stratified  Drift  rests  directly  on  the  bed-rock.  Perhaps  in 
these  places  the  Bowlder  Clay  was  washed  off  before  the  semi- 
stratified  Drift  was  laid  down.  Again,  there  are  many  places 
where  the  semi-stratified  Drift  does  not  rest  on  the  Bowlder 
Clay — perhaps  because  it  was  never  laid  down  ;  but  more 
probably  because  it  has  been  removed.  In  such  places  the 
stiff,  blue  clay  is  exposed  over  the  surface,  and  the  soil  is  full 
of  bowlders.  Can  you  not  call  to  mind  such  a  place? 

The  sheets  of  sand  and  gravel,  often  obliquely  laminated, 
which  we  saw  in  the  gravel-pit,  were  there  cut  through  in  a 
vertical  section  presented  edgewise.  You  must  think  of  these 
sheets  as  extending  into  the  earth  a  certain  distance,  but  very 
irregular  in  extent  as  well  as  in  form  and  position.  Some 
of  them  are  flat;  some  are  concave  upwards,  and  some  are 
convex.  Now  and  then  one  is  nearly  horizontal,  but  most  are 
considerably  inclined. 

Did  you  ever  see  a  huge  mound  of  rock-rubbish  at  the 
foot  of  a  torrent  rushing  down  a  steep  ravine  to  the  open, 
level  land — a  torrent  sometimes  suddenly  swollen  to  a  terrific 
and  maddened  volume,  which  tears  stones  and  trees  from  their 


,    THE  GRAVEL  PIT.  21 

fastenings?  And  have  you  ever  seen  such  mound  cut  through 
for  a  highway  or  other  purpose  ?  If  you  have,  you  have  wit- 
nessed a  semi-stratified  order  of  deposition  somewhat  like  that 
in  the  Drift.  Those  who  have  thought  on  this  resemblance 
have  reached  the  conclusion  that  the  semi-stratified  Drift  must 
have  been  moved  and  laid  down  by  some  kind  of  torrential 
action. 

But  however  this  was,  the  origin  of  the  bed  of  Bowlder 
Clay  must  have  been  very  different.  Here  is  no  sort  of  bed- 
ding. The  whole  is  in  a  state  of  uniform  confusion.  Evi- 
dently, then,  Nature  employed  two  kinds  of  action  successively 
in  transporting  and  dispersing  the  Drift.  In  the  semi-stratified 
Drift,  water  in  tumultuous  movement  may  have  been  the 
chief  agent.  In  the  Bowlder  Drift  water  was  not  the  chief 
agent,  since  here  is  none  of  the  assortment  and  stratification 
due  to  water,  and  here  also  are  rock-masses  moved  scores  or 
hundreds  of  miles,  and  these  results  are  not  ascribable  to  water. 

Let  us  take  another  glance  over  the  general  distribution  of 
the  Drift.  We  have  seen  the  bowlders  increasing  in  bulk  and 
abundance  northward.  We  have  seen  the  whole  Drift  forma- 
tion terminating  southward  on  about  the  parallel  of  Cincinnati. 
We  find  incoherent  surface  deposits  in  Kentucky  and  southward ; 
but  they  contain  no  bowlders ;  and  they  have  mostly  resulted 
from  the  disintegration  and  decay  of  the  bed-rocks  in  place. 
The  Drift,  then,  is  a  northern  phenomenon. 

If  we  notice  more  carefully  the  detailed  distribution  of 
bowlders,  we  find  that,  while  they  have  generally  moved 
southward,  there  has  also  been  a  radial  distribution  from  high 
mountains.  In  New  Hampshire  the  bowlders  move  east  and 
west  from  the  White  Mountains,  as  well  as  south.  In  Switzer- 
land, the  Pierre  a  bot  and  thousands  of  other  bowlders  moved 
north-westward  from  the  Mont  Blanc  range— though  on  the 
opposide  sides  of  Mont  Blanc  the  movement  was  in  the  op- 
posite direction.  In  the  Kocky  Mountains  and  the  Sierra 
Nevada,  the  movement  of  the  bowlders  was  east  and  west 
from  the  mountain  axis.  So,  too,  the  southward  distribution 
of  bowlders  was  greatest  along  mountain  elevations. 


22  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

Thus  the  distribution  of  Drift  materials  sustains  a  relation 
to  altitude  similar  to  that  which  it  sustains  to  latitude.  What 
factor,  or  force,  or  agency  exists  in  altitude  which  exists 
identically  in  latitude?  Temperature,  certainly.  To  ascend 
a  high  mountain  range  is  the  same  as  to  ascend  to  a  high  lati- 
tude. All  high  mountains  support  animals  and  plants  related 
to  species  farther  north.  On  the  summit  of  Mount  Washing- 
ton are  the  butterflies  and  plants  of  Labrador.  Ascending  the 
Andes,  you  have  tropical  products  at  the  foot,  temperate  pro- 
ducts at  ten  thousand  feet,  and  arctic  conditions  at  the  sum- 
mit. The  distribution  of  the  Drift,  then,  has  relation  to  heat 
and  cold.  Greater  cold  has  been  accompanied  by  larger  re- 
sults. Bowlders  are  more  numerous  and  more  massive  in 
northern  and  in  elevated  regions,  because  the  cold  is  there 
more  intense. 

Now,  how  does  cold  act  to  effect  transportation  of  rock- 
fragments?  Our  thoughts  run  over  the  world  to  scrutinize 
the  modes  of  action  of  cold.  Much  cold  implies  much  snow 
and  ice,  if  moisture  and  water  are  abundant.  Most  far  north- 
ern regions  and  high  mountain  summits  are  covered  much  of 
the  year,  or  the  whole  of  it,  by  a  sheet  of  snow.  Winter 
snow,  under  the  action  of  thawing  and  freezing  temperatures 
in  alternation,  becomes  granular,  as  we  often  observe  in  old 
snow,  especially  in  early  spring.  With  a  more  advanced 
stage  of  granulation,  the  icy  grains  coalesce  into  larger  grains, 
and  finally  merge  completely  into  a  solid  mass  of  ice.  This, 
also,  we  have  often  noticed  in  the  last  lingering  patches  of 
last  winter's  snow. 

We  have  many  observations  of  this  kind  on  a  large  scale. 
On  high  mountains  broad  fields  of  granular  snow  come  into 
existence,  and  at  a  certain  elevation  the  average  annual  tem- 
perature is  not  sufficient  to  dissolve  it  before  autumnal  snows 
begin  to  increase  the  amount.  The  old  snow  becomes  a  per- 
manent granular  sheet  on  the  high  slopes.  In  the  Alps  the 
Germans  designate  it  Firn,  and  the  French,  Neve.  When  the 
firn-masses  are  accumulated  in  valleys,  the  amount  of  snow  is 
so  great  that  it  may  reach  to  a  much  lower  altitude  before 


THE  GRAVEL  PIT.  23 

finding  a  temperature  which  will  suffice  to  melt  it  all  away  be- 
fore the  next  winter.  So  tongues  of  granular  snow  stretch 
down  the  mountain  valleys,  and  being,  like  our  late  spring 
snow,  exposed  to  increased  action  of  warmth,  these  valley  pro- 
longations of  the  upper  firn  become  completely  changed  into 
solid  ice.  This  is  now  a  glacier. 

We  may  reason  a  step  further  from  facts  of  observation.  All 
substances  expand  with  increase  of  temperature,  and  contract 
with  reduction  of  temperature.  The  glacier  is  certainly  at  a 
lower  temperature  in  winter  than  in  summer — though  it  can 
never  be  warmed  above  thirty-two  degrees  Fahrenheit,  which 
is  the  thawing  temperature.  The  surface  of  the  glacier  is  also 
at  a  lower  temperature  during  the  night  than  during  the  day. 
The  glacier,  therefore,  must  sometimes  expand  and  some- 
times contract.  Now,  when  it  expands,  the  whole  expansion 
will  be  developed  at  the  free  lower  border,  since  the  upper 
border  is  frozen  to  the  earth,  and  pressed  also,  by  the  snows 
beyond.  Also,  if  both  were  free,  most  of  the  expansion  would 
be  developed  below,  because  gravity  aids  motion  downwards. 
Next,  when  the  glacier  contracts,  the  lower  border  does  not 
retreat,  because  the  ice  is  not  strong  enough  to  bear  the  pull 
of  the  mass  up  the  slope.  The  ice  breaks  in  innumerable 
little  cracks.  These  are  soon  filled  with  water,  which  freezes, 
and  thus  restores  the  complete  solidity  of  the  glacier.  Thus, 
when  the  next  expansion  takes  place,  the  glacier  takes  another 
slide  down  the  valley.  So  the  glacier  travels.  So,  if  a  whole 
state  should  become  glacier-covered,  the  ice-sheet  would  have 
a  motion  from  higher  to  lower,  and  from  colder  to  warmer. 
Every  thing  on  its  surface  would  be  transported ;  every  loose 
object  beneath  it  or  in  front  of  it  would  be  pushed  forward. 

Now,  here  are  some  hints  toward  an  explanation  of  the 
method  of  transportation  of  our  millions  of  bowlders.  If  we 
go  to  the  Alps  we  find  exactly  such  glaciers,  on  a  small  scale, 
performing  precisely  such  work.  Thus  our  theory  receives 
confirmation.  We  can  not  pretend  that  glacier  action  ex- 
plains all  the  phenomena  of  the  Drift.  Nor  do  we  pretend 
that  any  thing  more  than  a  hint  has  been  given  toward  an  ex- 


24  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

planation  of  transportation.  The  action  which  arranged  the 
semi-stratified  Drift  must  have  been  exerted  by  water  rather 
than  ice.  But  we  leave  the  subject  now  to  your  thoughts. 
You  may  speculate  as  much  as  you  please  for  the  purpose  of 
forming  a  complete  theory.  You  will  find  such  occupation 
interesting  and  profitable.  By  and  by  we  shall  come  upon 
this  subject  again  from  another  direction.  (Talk  XL VII.) 


IV.    AMONO    THE    GLACIERS. 

GEOLOGICAL   ACTION   OF   GLACIERS. 

PERHAPS  it  is  best  to  pause  at  once  and  contemplate  a 
fuller  sketch  of  some  living  glaciers.  We  indulged  in  a  little 
speculation  about  the  cause  of  the  Drift.  We  argued  that 
glaciers  must  perform  a  work  pretty  nearly  such  as  the  Drift 
required  ;  and  I  cited  you  to  Alpine  glaciers  as  actually  exem- 
plifying this  kind  of  work.  But  come,  now,  let  us  take  a 
closer  look  at  Alpine  glaciers.  The  scenes  are  abundant  in 
picturesque  interest  as  well  as  instruction. 

About  fifty  miles  from  Geneva  lies  the  * '  vale  of  Chamo- 
nix" — the  classic  valley  of  classic  glaciers.  Its  axis  lies 
nearly  east  and  west,  and  the  Arve,  taking  its  rise  from  the 
east,  flows  through  the  length  of  the  valley,  and  bends  north 
to  the  Lake  of  Geneva.  On  the  north,  the  valley  is  bounded 
by  the  sharp  pinnacled  Aiguilles  Rouges  (A-ghee-Roosj)  ;  on 
the  south  rises  the  stupendous  mass  of  the  Mont  Blanc 
(Blahnc)  range,  nearly  sixteen  thousand  feet  above  sea  level. 
The  rounded  summit  of  the  monarch  mountain  is  silver  white 
with  perpetual  snow.  On  one  shoulder  rises  the  Dome  du 
Gouter,  and  on  the  other  the  Aiquille  de  Gouter  (A-ghee-du- 
Goo-tay).  For  three  thousand  feet  below  the  summit,  com- 
pact snow  covers  the  surface  to  an  unknown  depth.  In  one 
region  below  the  Aiguille  de  Gouter,  may  be  seen  a  long  per- 
pendicular cliff  of  snow  left  by  a  slide.  It  looks  like  a  vast 
entablature  to  the  glittering  dome.  This  is  said  to  be  fifteen 
hundred  feet  in  height.  At  the  foot  of  the  final  dome 


AMONG  THE  GLACIERS.  25 

stretches  a  fathomless  crevasse,  in  which  a  number  of  persons 
have  been  lost.  This  is  the  "Grande  Crevasse,"  and  for  a 
long  time  it  prevented  all  successful  approach  to  the  moun- 
tain's summit.  Sometimes  a  temporary  bridge  is  stretched 
across  by  drifting  snow.  Occasionally  it  becomes  sufficiently 
solid  to  serve  for  a  passage  over,  but  it  is  always  treacherous, 
and  ODce  precipitated  an  English  lady  and  her  companion  to 
a  depth  from  which  they  were  never  recovered. 

From  the  Grande  Crevasse  stretches  a  gentle  slope  called 
the  Grand  Plateau  at  an  elevation  of  thirteen  thousand  feet. 
This  is  covered  with  granular  neve.  Along  its  lower  limit  the 
snow-mass  is  broken  into  tumultuous  confusion,  and  the  pas- 
sage over  it  is  difficult  and  dangerous.  Below  this  is  the 
Little  Plateau,  ten  thousand  feet  above  sea-level ;  and  then 
come  other  broken  belts  of  snowy  precipices.  Now,  the 
upper  limits  of  two  glaciers  are  reached  in  the  downward 
flow  of  the  ice.  This  common  ice-field  is  a  scene  of  grand 
confusion.  The  mountain  slope  beneath  the  ice-sheet  presents 
many  irregularities  of  pitch,  and  many  projecting  bosses. 
Over  all  these  the  ice-stream  flows  toward  the  lower  level.  In 
one  place,  nine  thousand  feet  above  sea-level,  a  vast  pinnacled 
mass  of  rock  rises  some  hundreds  of  feet  above  the  ice.  This 
divides  the  wide  stream,  but  the  parts  completely  coalesce 
again  around  the  lower  side.  In  other  places,  the  underlying 
inequalities  break  the  sheet  by  fractures  large  and  small. 
Some  of  these  crevasses  extend  up  the  general  slope,  and 
others  are  transverse.  The  ice-mass  is  therefore  broken  into 
innumerable  prismatic  fragments.  The  tremendous  mashing 
together  which  they  experience  through  the  movements  of 
the  flow,  squeeze  numbers  of  them  out  of  their  places;  and 
they  stand  as  huge  pyramids  and  columns  ten,  twenty,  and 
forty  feet  above  the  general  surface.  The  columnar  forms 
are  called  seracs.  The  afternoon  sun  acts  on  them,  and  some 
are  sharpened  to  a  point ;  others  are  worked  out  at  the  sides, 
and  stand  with  broad  flat  caps.  Finally  they  tumble  down 
or  waste  away,  while  new  ones  rise  in  other  places.  Though 
the  ice  is  continually  shattered  by  crevassing,  the  fissures  are 

3 


26  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

continually  closing  together,  when  changes  in  underlying  con- 
figuration permit.  Two  fractured  surfaces  pressed  tightly 
unite  again  as  one  mass;  and  a  patch  shivered  into  ten  thou- 
sand fragments  becomes  solid  and  transparent  under  the  lat- 
eral squeezing  to  which  it  may  become  subjected.  So,  to 
whatever  extent  the  ice-sheet  may  be  shattered,  it  is  continu- 
ally healing,  and  tends  to  return  to  the  condition  of  a  sound 
and  solid  mass.  Thus  the  tourist,  picking  his  way  among  the 
seracs,  and  jumping  the  bottomless  chasms,  hears  frequently 
the  detonation  of  some  new  split,  which  is  echoed  back  from 
the  red  pinnacles  of  Mont  Maudit,  which  rises  on  his  left. 
These  themselves  hurl  down  rocky  fragments  to  keep  alive 
the  watchfulness  of  the  traveler,  and  place  material  on  the 
back  of  the  glacier  to  be  borne  gradually  but  steadily  down 
toward  the  valley. 

The  common  glacier-field  just  mentioned  strikes  the  sharp 
upper  limit  of  a  mountain  salience,  which  slopes  down  to  the 
valley  of  Chamonix,  and  separates  two  mountain  valleys. 
This  prominent  dividing  point  is  the  Aiguille  de  la  Tour.  As 
the  common  ice-mass  impinges  against  it,  the  ice  parts  to  the 
right  and  left  like  a  river.  Down  the  western  valley  flows 
the  ice-stream  known  as  the  Glacier  de  Taconnay.  Down  the 
eastern  valley  flows  the  greater  stream  known  as  the  Glacier 
des  Bossons,  having  the  little  village  of  Bossons  at  its  foot. 
Another  valley  lies  still  farther  west,  and  the  common  ice- 
field of  Mont  Blanc  fills  it  with  a  stream  known  as  Glacier 
de  la  Gria. 

These  three  glaciers  descend  to  the  valley  on  the  west  of 
the  pretty  village  of  Chamonix.  On  the  east  are  three  others. 
The  nearest  is  the  celebrated  Mer  de  Glace,  the  lower  part  of 
which  is  called  the  Glacier  des  Bois,  with  the  little  village  of 
Bois  at  its  foot.  The  snowy  eastern  slope  of  Mont  Blanc  and 
Mont  Maudit  (Mo-dee)  feeds  an  enormous  glacier  which,  to  an 
observer  from  the  valley  of  Chamonix,  lies  behind  the  pinna- 
cled summits  of  Charmoz  and  Midi.  This  is  the  Glacier  du 
Ge"ant,  and  it  forms  the  western  tributary  of  the  Mer  de 
Glace.  Into  the  head  of  the  Mer  de  Glace  comes  the  Glacier 


AMONG  THE  GLACIEES.  27 

de  Lechaud  (La-sho),  fed  by  the  snow-fields  of  the  Grandes 
Jorasses.  On  the  east,  the  Lechaud  is  reinforced  by  the 
broad  triangular  Glacier  de  Talefre  (Tah-lefr'),  in  the  midst 
of  which,  at  an  elevation  of  9,143  feet,  is  the  Jardin,  an 
island  of  land-surface,  walled  in  on  all  sides  by  lofty  mount- 
ains, and  adorned  in  August  with  a  display  of  several  species 
of  Alpine  flowers. 

Beyond  the  Mer  de  Glace  is  the  Glacier  of  Argentiere — a 
fine  long  river  of  ice,  almost  equal  to  the  Mer  de  Glace  itself. 
The  bright  village  of  Argentiere  lies  at  its  foot.  At  the  very 
head  of  the  valley  of  Chamonix  comes  down  from  the  same 
direction,  the  Glacier  du  Tour.  Thus  six  glaciers  descend  into 
the  valley,  and  each  contributes  its  torrent  of  muddy  water 
to  create  and  swell  the  Arve.  This  grand  series  of  ice-rivers 
and  the  more  majestic  mass  of  the  mountains,  with  their 
swelling  domes  and  sky-piercing  pinnacles,  may  be  contem- 
plated as  a  panorama  from  the  .summits  which  overlook  the 
valley  from  the  north,  and  put  the  spectator  face  to  face  be- 
fore the  stupendous  Mont  Blanc  range.  No  person  can  gaze 
on  this  spectacle  from  the  Flegere,  which  faces  the  Mer  de 
Glace,  or  from  the  Brevent,  which  faces  directly  the  Glacier 
des  Bossons  and  Mont  Blanc,  without  feeling  a  sympathy  with 
Coleridge  in  his  "  Hymn  in  the  Vale  of  Chamonix  :" 

"  Ye  ice-falls !  ye  that  from  the  mountain's  brow 
Adown  enormous  ravines  slope  amain, 
Torrents,  methinks,  that  heard  a  mighty  voice, 
And  stopped  at  once  amid  their  maddened  plunge ! 
Motionless  torrents !  silent  cataracts ! 
Who  made  you  glorious  as  the  gates  of  heaven 
Beneath  the  keen  full  moon  ?    Who  bade  the  sun 
Clothe  you  with  rainbow  ?     Who  with  living  flowers 
Of  loveliest  blue  spread  garlands  at  your  feet  ? 
God !    Let  the  torrents  like  a  shout  of  nations 
Answer,  and  let  the  ice-plains  echo,  God ! " 

The  conception  of  a  glacier  as  a  frozen  cataract  is  sugges- 
tive and  truthful.  When,  from  the  Montanvert,  overlooking 
the  Mer  de  Glace,  De  Saussure  contemplated  the  sea  of  ice, 
he  received  an  impression  thus  recorded:  "Its  surface  re- 


28  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

sembles  that  of  a  sea  which  has  become  suddenly  frozen — not 
during  a  tempest,  but  at  the  instant  when  the  wind  has  sub- 
sided, and  the  waves,  although  very  high,  have  become 
blunted  and  rounded.  These  great  waves  are  nearly  parallel 
to  the  length  of  the  glacier,  and  intersected  by  transverse 
crevasses,  the  interior  of  which  appears  blue,  while  the  ice 
is  white  on  its  external  surface."  Farther  down,  in  the  nar- 
rower Glacier  des  Bois,  the  seracs  and  needles  bristle  over  the 
surface  in  mighty  uplifts  and  fearful  confusion. 

The  crevasses  really  run  in  any  direction,  according  to  the 
nature  of  the  underlying  surface.  In  length  they  vary  from 
twenty  feet  to  a  mile.  The  downward  direction  is  originally 
vertical,  but  as  the  surface  of  the  glacier  moves  more  rapidly 
than  the  deeper  portions,  the  transverse  crevasse  assumes, 
after  a  while,  an  inclination  which  gives  it  a  dip  up  the  val- 
ley. Its  depth  may  be  ten  or  a  hundred,  or  two  hundred 
feet ;  and  its  width,  which  is  a  few  inches  at  first,  may  grow 
to  fathoms.  Forbes  measured  a  crevasse  at  the  base  of  the 
Glacier  du  Geant,  which  had  a  breadth  of  not  less  than  1,214 
feet.  The  two  walls  generally  approach  each  other  downward, 
and  we  may  sometimes  safely  descend  to  the  bottom.  The 
wall-ice  is  absolutely  immaculate,  with  a  greenish  blue  trans- 
parency. Down  in  the  crevasse  we  hear  the  rills  coursing 
through  the  substance  of  the  glacier,  and  sometimes  the  cen- 
tral torrent  rumbling  along  the  bottom.  The  surface  of  the 
glacier  is  white  and  granular,  from  the  action  of  the  sun. 
Pools  of  water  rest  here  and  there — pure,  cgol,  and  refreshing — 
and  numerous  rills  flow  over  the  surface,  discharging  them- 
selves through  crevasses  and  perforations  in  the  ice-mass,  into 
some  subglacial  stream. 

Each  of  these  great  glaciers  is  bordered  by  a  moraine,  or 
long  ridge  of  material  thrown  off  the  surface  in  the  course 
of  ages,  and  pushed  up  by  the  movements  of  the  ice.  It  con- 
sists of  clay  and  rounded  bowlders.  It  is  completely  unstrati- 
fied,  and  resembles  precisely,  the  till  at  the  bottom  of  the 
Drift.  These  lateral  moraines  at  the  present  epoch,  tower  fifty 
to  eighty  feet  above  their  glaciers.  The  ice,  for  centuries,  has 


AMONG  THE  GLACIERS.  29 

been  in  process  of  shrinkage.  Such  masses  of  debris  could 
never  have  been  raised  by  the  existing  glaciers.  Other  attes- 
tation of  a  former  higher  stage  of  the  glaciers  is  seen  in  the 
smoothed  and  striated  rock-slopes  which  bound  the  glacier 
valleys.  These  surfaces  remind  us  of  the  smoothed  and 
striated  rocks  underneath  the  till  in  America.  The  records 
of  the  glaciers  may  be  traced  on  these  smoothed  slopes,  two 
or  three  hundred  feet  above  the  present  ice-surfaces. 

At  the  foot  of  each  glacier  is  a  terminal  moraine,  which 
is  continuous  with  the  two  lateral  moraines.  Among  the 
Chamonix  glaciers,  this  moraine  is  half  a  mile  or  more  below 
the  termination  of  the  ice,  showing  to  what  extent  the  glaciers 
have  diminished  in  length.  These  remote  moraines  were  left 
in  1817  and  1826.  The  "  chief  of  guides"  at  Chamonix 
remembers  the  occasion,  and  narrated  to  me  a  number  of 
memorable  incidents.  The  plain  between  the  moraine  and  the 
foot  of  the  glacier  is  strewn  with  bowlders.  Many  descend 
on  the  surface  of  the  ice  or  imbedded  in  its  mass.  One  sees 
them  frequently  precipitated  from  the  foot  of  the  Glacier  des 
Bois  to  the  plain  below.  The  diminution  of  the  glaciers  ap- 
pears to  be  a  persistent  phenomenon,  and  not  dependent  on 
climatic  fluctuations  of  short  period.  There  must  be  either  a 
continuous  diminution  of  cold  or  of  precipitation. 

All  parts  of  the  glacier  mass  move  continually  downward. 
In  the  Glacier  des  Bossons  the  amount  of  the  movement  has 
been  determined  by  means  of  a  catastrophe.  In  1820,  eight 
persons  were  buried  in  the  Grande  Crevasse  at  the  foot  of  the 
dome  of  Mont  Blanc.  In  1861,  their  remains  began  to  ap- 
pear in  the  ice  near  the  termination  of  the  glacier.  In  forty 
years  they  had  traveled  26,000  to  29,000  feet,  or  680  feet  a 
year.  As  they  were  buried  200  feet  beneath  the  surface,  it 
appears  that  200  feet  had  been  melted  from  the  top  of  the 
glacier  in  the  same  interval.  The  Mer  de  Glace,  as  shown 
by  Forbes,  moves  past  Montanvert  at  the  rate  of  822  feet 
per  annum.  Near  the  foot  of  the  Glacier  des  Bois  the  motion 
is  209  feet  a  year.  The  lower  Glacier  of  the  Aar,  which  was 
the  scene  of  Agassiz's  observations,  moves  downward  at  an 


30  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

average  rate  of  250  feet  per  annum.  Hugi's  hut  according 
to  Agassiz,  had  been  carried  5,900  feet  in  thirteen  years.  A 
record  bottled  up  by  Hugi,  stated  that  it  had  traveled  197  feet 
in  three  years  and  2,345  feet  in  nine  years.  The  great  conti- 
nental glacier  would  not  have  traveled  at  rates  so  rapid ;  but 
if  it  moved  20.0  feet  a  year,  the  time  required  to  transport  a 
bowlder  250  miles  would  be  6,600  years. 

These  interesting  Chamonix  glaciers  are  but  the  stumps  of 
what  they  have  been.  Once  they  were  noble  tributaries  of  a 
greater  glacier  which  filled  the  valley  of  Chamonix.  Out 
of  this  valley  it  passed  along  the  valley  of  the  Arve,  all  the 
way  to  Geneva.  As  we  ride  along  the  highway,  the  rocky 
bounding  walls  rise  on  either  hand,  smoothed  and  scored  after 
the  same  fashion  as  the  rock-walls  of  the  valley  of  the  Mer  de 
Glace.  Evidently,  the  Chamonix  glaciers  have  long  been  in 
process  of  shrinkage.  Evidently,  they  once  existed  under  an 
enormous  development.  When  that  period  was  passing,  we  may 
well  believe  our  northern  states  were  extensively  glaciated, 
and  a  work  was  in  progress  very  nearly  like  that  which  we 
have  already  reasoned  out.  With  these  facts  before  us,  we 
shall  be  prepared  to  appreciate  the  picture  of  continental 
glaciation  that  will  be  presented  as  we  trace  the  later  history 
of  the  world. 


V.    THE  HiivLsiDK  SF>RINO  AND  ITS  \VORK. 

SUBTERRANEAN    WATERS    AND    THEIR   DEPOSITS. 

WHERE  goes  the  rain  which  falls  upon  the  earth  ?  If  the 
surface  were  completely  level,  and  all  the  water  should  stand 
which  comes  from  the  clouds  in  the  form  of  rain  and  snow, 
it  would  be  everywhere  about  forty  inches  deep.  In  some 
parts  of  the  United  States  it  would  be  more,  and  in  others 
less  than  this.  Such  an  amount  of  water  would  be  34,480 
barrels  on  every  acre.  What  becomes  of  all  that  water? 

Part  of  it  runs  off,  you  say ;  and  part  of  it  soaks  in  the 
ground.  True,  and  part  of  it  evaporates,  and  is  afterward 


THE  HILLSIDE  SPRING  AND  ITS  WOEK.          31 

condensed  and  rained  down  again.  Also,  part  of  that  which 
soaks  in  the  ground  returns  when  the  surface  becomes  dry, 
and  is  evaporated.  But,  not  to  be  too  precise,  let  us  attempt 
to  follow  the  water  which  soaks  in.  First  of  all,  it  must  have 
dissolved  some  substances  with  which  it  came  in  contact  at 
the  surface.  These  substances  must  be,  to  a  limited  extent 
certain  mineral  constituents  of  the  Drift;  but  the  Drift  has 
been  so  many  thousand  years  exposed  to  rains,  that  all  its 
readily  soluble  constituents  have  been  dissolved  away  from 
the  surface.  The  chief  agencies  which  supply  soluble  matters 
to  the  surface  are  man  and  animals.  The  underground  waters, 
therefore,  carry  with  them  a  certain  amount  of  solutions  of 
organic  and  inorganic  origin,  and  are  not  absolutely  pure, 
like  carefully  distilled  water.  They  may  even  be  poisonous 
and  unsanitary. 

Following  these  waters  in  thought,  beneath  the  surface, 
we  see  them  percolating  through  the  sands  and  gravels,  which 
we  have  found  to  make  up  the  principal  part  of  the  tipper 
Drift.  Through  layer  after  layer  they  continue  to  descend. 
If  any  obstruction  is  encountered,  they  are  quickly  deflected 
around  it,  and  so  continue- to  settle  toward  the  impervious 
Bowlder  Clay  at  the  bottom  of  the  Drift;  or,  if  that  is 
absent,  the  waters  settle  to  the  bed-rock.  We  will  not  attempt, 
at  present,  to  follow  them  in  the  rocks. 

Now,  we  know  that  the  Drift  contains  sheets  of  impervious 
clay.  Of  course,  then,  these  intercept  the  descending  water. 
The  water  arrested  by  a  clay-bed  saturates  the  overlying  sand, 
and  gradually  flows  along  the  surface  of  the  clay  to  a  lower 
level.  But  we  have  seen  that  all  these  Drift  beds  are  of 
quite  limited  extent.  The  water,  therefore,  soon  reaches  the 
edge  of  the  clay-bed  and  escapes  down  to  a  lower  level. 
Probably  it  is  again  intercepted  by  a  deeper  clay-bed.  Along 
this  it  flows  in  a  similar  way,  and  so  continues — always  ap- 
proaching nearer  and  nearer  to  the  lower  limit  of  the  Drift. 
Some  of  the  clay-beds  are  concave  upward,  and  thus  form  real 
dishes  or  cisterns,  which  remain  full. 

Suppose  we  dig  a  well.     While  passing  through  the  sandy 


32  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

strata,  from  which  the  water  drains  away,  no  supply  will  be 
struck.  As  soon,  however,  as  we  reach  one  of  the  subter- 
ranean basins  or  cisterns,  a  supply  is  found.  Should  we  dig 
a  hole  through  the  bottom  of  the  cistern,  we  would,  of  course, 
lose  much  if  not  all  of  the  water.  But  we  might  continue 
down  to  the  next  water-basin. 

Let  us  suppose  another  well  is  needed,  a  few  rods  away. 
We  must  not  be  too  sanguine  in  the  expectation  of  getting 
water  at  the  same  depth.  Perhaps  the  new  well  is  beyond 
the  limits  of  the  higher  water-basin;  we  must  then  dig  to 
some  lower  one.  Perhaps  the  new  well  is  on  higher  ground ; 
it  does  not  follow  that  we  must  dig  to  the  level  of  the  basin 
in  the  first  well.  In  the  higher  ground  may  be  a  higher 
water-basin  ;  and  so  the  second  well,  though  several  feet  higher 
than  the  first,  may  not  require  to  be  so  deep. 

Do  not  suppose  these  water-beds  are  everywhere  of  such 
limited  extent.  There  are  districts  where  the  same  bed  may 
be  traced  one  or  two  miles.  The  bed,  in  such  cases,  is 
nearly  horizontal;  and  that  condition  of  the  underground 
structure  is  indicated  by  a  level  condition  of  the  surface. 

Now,  how  are  springs  produc.ed?  Suppose  a  river  valley 
has  cut  through  a  deep  mass  of  the  Drift,  must  it  not  cut 
the  water-bearing  sheets  with  the  rest?  And  when  that  is 
done,  will  not  the  water  flow  out?  Certainly,  just  as  when 
we  knock  a  hole  in  a  cistern.  So  a  hill-side  spring  is  noth- 
ing but  a  leak  in  one  of  nature's  cisterns.  The  water  in  es- 
caping from  the  cut  edge  of  the  sheet  finds  some  spot  where  least 
resistance  is  experienced,  and  there  it  escapes  in  largest  quan- 
tity. It  forms  a  sort  of  stream,  and  by  degrees  wears  a  little 
channel,  which  extends  back  into  the  bank,  opening  at  its 
mouth  in  a  little  arch  under  which  the  water  finally  escapes. 
Of  course,  all  the  work  was  accomplished  before  we  ever  saw 
the  spring.  A  well  is  an  artificial  spring. 

Generally,  the  water  of  a  hill-side  spring  is  allowed  to  flow 
off  to  a  brook  or  rivulet.  In  the  course  of  a  number  of  miles, 
scores  or  hundreds  of  springs  may  discharge  their  contributions 
into  the  stream.  In  fact,  the  greater  part  of  the  water  in  the 


THE  HILLSIDE  SPRING  AND  ITS  WORK.         33 

stream  is  supplied  by  springs.  It  gets  directly  from  rains 
only  so  much  as  flows  from  the  surface  of  the  basin  which 
the  river  drains.  Most  of  the  rain  falling  within  the  basin, 
however,  sinks  into  the  ground,  and  finds  its  way  into  the 
stream  only  in  the  form  of  spring  water.  But  when  a  stream 
flows  over  a  drift-formed  bed,  much  water  wastes  away.  Be- 
sides this,  many  deep  water-basins  convey  their  contents  under 
the  river.  So  the  river  never  contains  the  whole  amount  of 
water  which  falls  within  the  basin  which  it  drains. 

Suppose  all  the  water-basins  under  a  township  or  a  county 
should  cease  to  exist,  what  would  become  of  wells  and  springs  ? 
You  understand  at  once  that  they  would  dry  up.  Therefore 
the  streams  would  dry  up.  The  water  would  settle  to  the 
Bowlder  Clay  or  the  bed-rock,  and  there  would  be  the  only 
accumulation.  Every  well  must  then  be  sunk  to  that  depth — 
even  if  it  were  two  hundred  feet.  And  wells  would  be  the 
only  resort,  for  of  springs  there  would  be  none ;  of  brooks 
there  would  be  none;  of  ponds  and  lakelets  there  would  be 
none.  Then,  again,  the  Drift  sands  being  so  dry,  little  evap- 
oration would  take  place  from  the  earth's  surface.  The  air 
would  be  dry ;  no  dew  would  condense ;  no  clouds  would 
form,  and  so  the  rains  would  stop  descending,  unless  some 
other  region  could  supply  us  with  clouds.  How  beneficent, 
then,  are  the  clay-beds !  Literally,  they  are  all  which  saves 
many  a  fertile  region  from  becoming  a  desert  and  an  unin- 
habitable waste.  We  looked  carelessly  at  these  courses  of 
sands  and  clays  exposed  in  the  railroad  cut,  and  thought,  per- 
haps, they  only  served  to  form  a  pile  of  earth  for  the  rail- 
road builder  to  cart  into  the  neighboring  filling.  How 
admirably  the  constitution  of  the  Drift  is  suited  to  human  wants ! 
To  us  it  looks  as  if  it  had  been  an  intentional  preparation  for 
man.  There  are  persons,  however,  who  prefer  to  say  it  is  not 
so ;  but  man  is  here  only  because  the  situation  is  one  which 
permits  him  to  be  here.  But  we  are  sure,  at  least,  that  a 
happy  coordination  exists  between  our  necessities  and  our  sur- 
roundings ;  and  the  constitution  of  things  which  brings  enjoy- 
ment out  of  the  coordination  is  a  beneficient  constitution.  . 


34  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

In  regions  of  deep  Drift  and  abundant  water-basins,  the 
supplies  of  spring-water  are  sometimes  sufficient  to  meet  the 
demands  of  towns  and  cities.  The  city  of  Ann  Arbor,  with 
its  ten  thousand  of  population,  is  thus  supplied  with  nearly 
five  hundred  thousand  gallons  daily.  This  is  obtained  from 
two  groups  of  springs,  and  distributed  through  the  city  in  the 
usual  way.  Five  times  this  amount  could  be  had,  if  needed. 

Now  let  us  consider  springs  in  another  light.  We  have  al- 
ready reflected  that  the  percolating  water  takes  some  substances 
in  solution  from  the  surface.  It  must  take  up  much  more  in 
leaching  through  the  sands.  This  is  the  reason  why  most 
sands  are  composed  chiefly  of  insoluble  constituents.  Their 
soluble  constituents  have  been  leached  out.  But  there  re- 
main still,  in  many  regions,  some  soluble  limestone  pebbles  or 
larger  masses  which  have  not  yet  been  dissolved,  and  the 
water  is  continually  diminishing  the  amount  of  these.  *  Now, 
first  of  all,  consider  that  this  little  fact  is  a  demonstration 
that  the  present  order  of  things  has  not  existed  from  eternity. 
If  it  had,  all  the  soluble  substances  would  have  disappeared 
long  ago — in  fact,  an  eternity  since.  The  time,  therefore, 
since  this  Drift  was  brought  here  is  only  a  finite  number  of 
years.  That  is  a  positive  datum. 

Water  that  has  dissolved  much  limestone  is  "hard."  Hence, 
many  spring  and  river  waters  are  hard.  The  water  of  a  pond 
may  be  softer,  because  a  large  proportion  of  it  has  been  di- 
rectly rained  in,  or  supplied  by  surface  drainage  from  the  sur- 
rounding land.  Of  course,  the  hardness  of  underground  water 
depends  upon  the  amount  of  limestone  pebbles  and  grains 
with  which  it  has  come  in  contact.  Aside  from  any  supply 
of  limestone  from  neighboring  ledges,  the  amount  of  limestone 
in  the  Drift  depends  on  the  amount  transported  from  the  north- 
ern regions  which  supplied  the  material  of  the  Drift  at  each 
particular  place.  Some  northern  regions  supplied  much  lime- 
stone, and  others  little.  Hence,  in  Michigan,  Ohio,  and  In- 
diana, well  and  spring  waters  are  hard,  while  in  New  England 
and  Pennsylvania  they  are  comparatively  soft. 

Under-ground  water  often  experiences  great  pressure.     In 


ISTTKODUCTION   TO   THE    ROCKS.  35 

this  state  it  dissolves  more  limestone  than  it  can  hold  in  solu- 
tion after  the  pressure  is  relieved.  Hence  many  springs  throw 
down  a  calcareous  deposit  which  in  the  open  air  hardens  into 
tufa  and  travertine.  It  often  incrusts  mosses  and  forms  what  is 
called  "petrified  moss."  The  vegetable  matter  perishes  and 
disappears  by  degrees,  but  the  form  of  the  moss  remains. 
Calcareous  springs  flowing  into  ponds  cause  a  deposit  of  chalky 
matter  on  the  bottom,  which  is  called  marl.  It  is  generally 
mixed  with  earthy  substances  washed  in  from  the  surround- 
ing slopes. 

In  precisely  the  same  way  certain  springs  deposit  peroxide 
of  iron,  which  is  yellowish  or  red.  Iron  is  also  often  trans- 
ported to  bogs  and  ponds,  and  there  undergoes  deposition. 
Thus  bog  iron  ore  is  formed. 

Now,  I  wish  to  ask  Johnnie  if  he  understands  what  has 
been  said  in  this  Talk.  I  hope  he  will  think  these  matters 
over.  They  will  help  him  to  understand,  by  and  by,  some 
matters  which  are  far  more  interesting.  At  least,  I  think  he 
will  find  them  so. 


VI.    INTRODUCTION    TO   THE   ROCKS 

KINDS   OF   MINERALS   AND   STONES. 

IT  is  not  entirely  satisfactory  to  roam  over  the  fields,  with 
bowlders  lying  on  the  right  and  left,  but  without  any  knowl- 
edge of  their  names  or  natures.  True,  we  shall  experience 
much  satisfaction  in  feeling  that  we  know  something  of  their 
origin  and  their  history.  We  may  walk  up  to  the  side  of  one 
of  these  ancient  and  way-worn  travelers  and  say:  "  Old  Hard 
Head,  when  did  you  arrive  in  this  country,  and  where  did  you 
emigrate  from  ?"  Old  Hard  Head  will  lie  sullenly  and  answer 
never  a  word.  But  he  is  written  all  over  with  inscriptions 
which  we  can  already  begin  to  decipher.  So  we  look  on  the 
rounded  and  weather-beaten  form,  and  say  to  ourselves: 
"  This  immigrant  rock  came  from  a  northern  country.  He 


36  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

left  his  mother-rock,  and  most  of  his  kindred,  in  the  woods  of 
northern  Maine,  or  New  Hampshire,  or  on  the  shore  of  Lake 
Superior.  A  large  number  of  his  kindred  came  with  him. 
He  rode  part  of  the  way  on  the  back  of  a  glacier.  By  and 
by  he  fell  off,  or  got  into  a  hole ;  and  after  that  he  had  a  severe 
squeezing.  He  got  crushed  and  rubbed  and  rolled  and  pushed 
for  some  thousands  of  years.  But  every  year  he  made  some 
progress.  By  and  by  there  was  a  great  change  of  weather. 
The  ice-carriage  melted  away  from  him,  and  fine  weather  re- 
turned, and  lo!  he  found  himself,  one  spring,  in  this  field. 
That  was  long  enough  before  Adam  and  Eve  set  up  business 
in  gardening.  But  here  old  Hard  Head  has  been  lying  ever 
since.  And  now,  we  are  the  very  first  persons  who  ever 
stopped  to  pay  him  a  moment's  attention,  and  make  his 
acquaintance." 

If  old  Hard  Head  thinks,  he  is  revolving  some  handsome 
compliments  on  our  intelligence.  Whatever  old  Hard  Head 
may  think,  we  are  sure  the  ability  to  learn  something  of  the 
method  of  the  world  was  given  us  to  be  exercised.  If  we  go 
stupidly  through  the  world,  without  exercising  that  ability,  we 
do  no  better  than  an  ox.  But  if  we  seek  to  gain  an  insight 
into  the  method  and  history  of  the  world,  we  honor  the  Author 
of  the  world ;  we  read  His  thoughts.  Knowing  some  of  His 
thoughts,  we  come  into  more  intimate  relations  with 
him.  The  study  of  science  is  a  virtue.  Attention  to 
geology  is  a  human  duty. 

To  complete  our  introduction  to  old  Hard  Head  we  must 
know  his  name.  To  call  him  old  Hard  Head  is  like  calling  a 
man  "  Old  Russian"  or  "  Old  Englishman."  He  has,  besides, 
his  personal  name.  Now,  there  is  a  way  of  finding  out  the 
particular  name  of  each  rock.  Like  a  dog  with  his 
name  on  his  collar,  each  mute  rock  displays  a  name  writ- 
ten on  its  exterior.  Let  us  look  into  this  subject  a  few 
minutes. 

Do  you  see  that  nearly  all  these  bowlders  appear  to  be 
mixtures  of  different  colors  and  kinds  of  rocks?  See  one 
rock  with  round  pebbles — white,  red,  black — imbedded  in  a 


INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  ROCKS.  37 

mass  of  smaller  grains.  See  another  rock,  less  coarse,  with 
grains  white,  pink,  and  black.  See  still  another  with  grains 
all  nearly  alike.  See  one  rock  nearly  a  uniform  white ; 
another,  bluish  ;  another,  reddish ;  another,  nearly  black.  See 
one  rock  with  numerous  black  shining  scales;  another,  with 
smoky  scales;  another,  with  silvery  scales.  Now,  all  these 
differently  colored  constituents  of  the  rocks  are  so  many  differ- 
ent minerals.  Rocks  are  composed  of  minerals.  Some  rocks 
have  two  minerals ;  some,  three ;  some,  four ;  and  some,  only 
one.  The  particular  name  of  a  rock  depends  on  the  min- 
erals in  it.  As  soon  as  we  know  the  minerals,  we  can  call 
the  name  of  the  rock.  Now,  sit  down  and  take  a  lesson  in 
minerals. 

Do  you  see  this  white  flint  rock,  composed  throughout  of 
one  kind  of  mineral  ?  That  mineral  is  Quartz.  It  is  the  hard- 
est of  all  the  common  minerals.  Try  to  scratch  it.  You  see 
the  point  of  steel  makes  no  impression  on  it.  Rut  it  leaves  a 
black  mark.  The  Quartz  wears  away  the  steel.  When  one 
of  these  bowlders  is  thus  composed  entirely  of  Quartz,  its 
name  is  Quartzite.  There  are  many  Quartzites,  as  there  are 
many  Smiths  and  Joneses.  Let  us  learn  the  other  part  of  the 
name.  Look  at  these  uniformly  colored  quartzites — white  and 
gray.  You  see  one  is  composed  of  distinct  grains;  this  is  a 
Granular  Quartzite.  One  has  the  grains  almost  completely 
melted  together  or  confluent ;  this  is  a  Vitreous  Quartzite.  One 
contains  pebbles ;  this  is  a  Conglomeritic  Quartzite,  or  simply  a 
Conglomerate.  Another  has  some  of  its  pebbles  red ;  this  is  a 
Jaspery  Conglomerate.  You  will  find  quartzites  exceedingly 
abundant ;  and  you  will  find  grains  of  quartz  in  many  other 
rocks  than  quartzites.  In  fact,  quartz  is  most  abundant  of 
all  minerals. 

Conglomerates  always  excite  curiosity — especially  if  the 
pebbles  are  of  different  bright  colors.  Two  large  masses  of 
conglomerates  of  different  sorts  lie  on  the  campus  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Michigan — souvenirs  of  two  graduating  classes. 
One  is  a  jaspery  conglomerate  from  the  north  shore  o£  Lake 
Huron.  It  weighs  six  tons.  The  plum  pudding,  as  big  as 


38  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

the  State  House  dome,  demolished  by  the  giant's  wife  and 
her  screaming  boys,  refers  to  a  conglomerate. 

"  They  flung  it  over  to  Roxbury  hills, 

They  flung  it  over  the  plain ; 
And  all  over  Milton  and  Dorchester,  too, 
Great  lumps  of  pudding  the  giants  threw ; 

They  tumbled  as  thick  as  rain." 

Well,  here  is  a  rock  with  shining  scale-like  mineral  frag- 
ments. Pick  up  a  scale  with  your  knife-blade.  Do  you  see 
it  split  into  laminse  or  leaves  of  indefinite  thinness?  "Yes," 
you  say;  "this  is  the  same  thing  as  is  used  in  the  doors  of 
our  stoves  to  permit  the  light  to  shine  through  ;  only  these  are 
black  leaves  and  those  are  transparent."  Quite  right.  What 
do  you  call  the  mineral  in  your  stove  door?  "Mica,  though 
some  people  call  it  isinglass."  Mica  is  correct.  One  species 
of  mica  is  black,  and  has  a  particular  name ;  another  varies 
from  dark-brown  or  smoky  to  transparent,  and  has  a  different 
name.  There  are  also  some  other  species  of  mica.  So  you 
know  mica. 

Examine  this  rock  very  closely — do  you  find  any  quartz? 
"Yes,"  you  say,  "there  are  two  kinds  of  light-colored  min- 
erals here."  Carefully  test  them  both  for  hardness.  Can  you 
scratch  them?  "  Well,  no.  One  of  them  is  hard  enough  for 
quartz — it  is  quartz ;  but  the  other  I  am  uncertain  about." 
Then  you  must  try  again.  Bear  on  hard ;  can  't  you  make  a 
little  scratch  with  your  knife-point,  or  the  end  of  a  file?  "I 
believe  I  do  make  a  little  impression  on  it."  Well,  then,  it  is 
not  quartz.  Now  take  another  look  at  it.  Compare  it  with 
the  quartz  grain  by  its  side.  Is  its  surface  broken  and  irreg- 
ular? "No,"  you  say,  "it  is  flat."  Hold  it  then  so  as  to 
reflect  the  light  from  the  window.  Is  the  reflection  as  bright 
and  glassy  as  the  reflection  from  the  quartz ?  "I  think  there 
is  a  little  difference."  You  see,  too,  it  is  an  unbroken  re- 
flection, while  that  from  the  quartz  is  not  uniform,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  uneven  surface.  There  is  also  another  point; 
this  mineral  appears  to  be  a  fragment  of  a  crystal ;  you  can  de- 
tect one  or  more  edges  or  angles.  It  is  not  so  with  the  quartz. 


INTKODUCTION  TO  THE  KOCKS.  39 

Thus,  in  several  particulars,  this  mineral  differs  from  quartz. 
Its  name  is  Feldspar.  But  feldspar  is  not  always  white  nor 
cream-colored.  Very  often  it  is  pink-tinted ;  often  almost  red. 
But  you  may  know  it  to  be  feldspar  by  the  same  signs,  inde- 
pendently of  color. 

So  we  find  in  this  bowlder  three  different  minerals,  and 
their  names  are  Quartz,  Mica,  and  Feldspar.  These  three  min- 
erals mixed  together  form  the  rock  Granite.  There  are  sev- 
eral varieties  of  granite,  according  to  the  species  of  mica ; 
according  to  the  colors  of  the  quartz  and  feldspar;  according 
to  coarseness  of  the  constituents;  according  to  the  relative 
proportions  of  the  three  ingredients.  But  they  are  all  gran- 
ites. If,  however,  the  minerals  are  not  uniformly  mixed ;  if 
they  are  ranged  in  courses,  the  rock  is  stratified,  and  it  is  not 
a  proper  granite,  though  quarry  men  and  builders  often  call  it 
granite.  Properly,  it  is  Gneiss  (Nice).  If  the  mica  is  al- 
most or  completely  wanting  in  a  granite-like  rock,  the  rock  is 
Granulite.  When  a  gneiss-like  rock  contains  very  little  feld- 
spar, it  is  Mica  Schist  (Shist). 

Now,  let  us  examine  another  bowlder,  with  a  similar  ap- 
pearance, but  in  which  the  dark  mineral  is  not  mica.  Be 
sure,  first  of  all,  that  we  have  quartz  and  feldspar  in  it.  Then, 
if  the  dark  mineral  is  not  scaly,  it  is  probably  Hornblende. 
It  may  be  nearly  black,  or  greenish-black,  or  dark  green.  It 
may  be  in  grains,  or  in  flat-sided  fragments  showing  an  indistinct 
fibrous  structure.  It  can  be  scratched,  giving  a  pale  bluish-green 
streak.  Now,  a  rock  with  these  constituent  minerals — Quartz, 
Feldspar,  and  Hornblende,  is  Syenite — so  called  because  the  rock 
quarried  by  the  ancient  Egyptians  at  Sye'ne  was  of  this  kind. 
Many  persons  call  this  granite  also.  The  "Quincy  granite,"  near 
Boston,  is  a  syenite.  Often  syenite  contains  also  some  mica.  This 
is  the  case  with  the  "obelisk,"  in  Central  Park,  New  York, 
and  the  Mormon  Temple,  in  Salt  Lake  City.  If  the  constit- 
uent minerals  tend  to  arrangement  in  courses,  the  rock  is 
stratified,  and  we  call  it  Syenitic  Gneiss.  If  the  quartz  is  want- 
ing, or  nearly  so,  the  rock  is  Hyposyenite  when  the  feldspar  is 
of  the  common  kind,  and  Diorite  when  otherwise.  When 


40  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

Syenitic  Gneiss  contains  very  little  feldspar,  we  call  the  rock 
Hornblende  Schist. 

The  names  above  explained  embrace  a  majority  of  the 
rocks,  and  I  do  noj;  by  any  means  expect  you  to  learn  at 
present  all  of  the  others.  But  we  may  mention  a  few.  Some 
rocks  appear  to  be  composed  wholly  of  one  mineral,  and 
yet  they  are  not  quartzites.  They  are  mostly  dark-col- 
ored— slate-colored  or  blackish  or  greenish.  If  these  are 
banded  in  different  colors,  or  are  capable  of  splitting  into 
sheets,  like  shingles,  they  are  Argillites — including  most  of  the 
hard  slates,  like  roofing  slate.  If  a  rock  is  very  fine,  black- 
ish, and  harder  than  slate,  it  may  be  an  Aphanite.  If  it  con- 
sists of  a  very  fine,  hard,  uniform  reddish  or  greenish  base, 
having  crystals  of  feldspar  scattered  through  it,  the  rock  is  a 
Porphyry.  But,  if  you  feel  inclined  to  go  further  into  rock- 
details,  it  will  be  better  to  study  some  work  which  takes  up 
the  subject  more  thoroughly.  (See  the  Author's  Geological 
Excursions,  and  still  fuller  Geological  Studies). 

One  word  more.  These  bowlder  rocks  are  all  hard,  crys- 
talline, and  generally  (not  always)  foreign  to  the  region  where 
they  lie.  We  sometimes  find  fragments  of  rocks  which  are 
not  hard  and  crystalline,  and  far-fetched.  They  come  from 
ledges  which  appear  at  the  surface  not  far  away.  The  most 
common  uncrystalline  ledges  are  of  sandstone,  limestone,  and 
shale.  Sandstone  is  composed  chiefly  of  grains  of  quartz — like 
those  in  a  granular  quartzite,  but  not  so  brilliant  or  so  firmly 
compacted  together.  A  grindstone  is  a  fine  sandstone.  Lime- 
stone can  be  easily  scratched  with  a  knife  ;  is  generally  not  com- 
posed of  grains ;  and,  if  you  apply  strong  acid,  an  effervescence 
takes  place.  Very  strong  vinegar  will  often  suffice,  especially 
if  the  rock  is  first  pulverized.  Shale  is  quite  soft,  easily 
cut  with  a  knife,  dark-bluish  or  black,  splitting  into  thin 
sheets.  It  is  exceedingly  common  in  coal  regions.  It  crum- 
bles into  small  fragments,  and  finally  becomes  mere  mud. 

I  think  this  little  knowledge  about  rocks  is  better  than 
total  ignorance.  We  may  now  go  amongst  our  bowlders,  and 
speak  many  of  their  names. 


THE  FLOODS  OF  THE  GKEAT  LAKES.  41 


VII.    THK  KLOODS  OK  THK  GRKAT 

LACUSTRINE   DEPOSITS   AND   TEEBACES. 

PERSONS  liviDg  along  -the  borders  of  the  "Great  Lakes" 
well  understand  what  is  meant  by  "The  Kidge  Road." 
That  road  is  a  geological  phenomenon.  It  is  a  record  of  high 
waters  in  the  lakes.  It  possesses  much  significance,  and  opens 
an  interesting  vista  through  a  chapter  in  the  world's  history. 

The  Ridge  Road  runs  parallel  with  the  lake  shore  for  many 
miles  at  a  stretch.  It  is  almost  perfectly  level  and  serves  as  a 
ready  made  road-bed  for  country  roads.  It  consists  of  gravel 
and  sands,  and  presents  oblique  lamination  or  cross-bedding  in 
its  internal  structure.  The  materials  have  evidently  been  ar- 
ranged by  water.  It  has  the  general  characters  of  a  beach, 
and  like  a  beach  retains  a  level  nearly  uniform.  Generally 
two  or  more  of  these  ancient  beaches  run  parallel  with  the 
lake,  at  different  altitudes.  The  "ridge-road"  south  of  Lake 
Ontario  is  190  feet  above  the  lake.  The  principal  terrace 
bordering  Lake  Erie  is  220  feet  above  the  lake  on  the  south 
side.  On  the  north  side,  near  Toronto,  there  are  terraces  from 
30  to  500  feet  above  the  lake.  The  Davenport  ridge  west  of 
Toronto  is  250  to  300  feet.  At  the  west  of  Lake  Ontario, 
near  Dundas,  the  ridge  is  318  feet  high.  Around  Lake 
Huron  are  clayey  deposits  up  to  500  feet.  North  of  Lake 
Superior  the  upper  terrace  reported  is  331  feet  above 
the  Lake. 

There  are  other  indications  that  the  Great  Lakes  have 
formerly  stood  much  higher  than  at  present.  Mackinac  Island 
is  a  monument  commemorating  in  stone  the  fact  of  the  ancient 
high  tides  of  the  lakes.  Get  into  a  Mackinac  boat  and  sail 
around  the  island.  On  all  sides  a  wall  of  limestone  rises  per- 
pendicularly from  the  water's  edge  to  a  height  of  about  150 
feet.  Only  on  the  south,  for  a  narrow  space,  is  the  approach 
practicable.  Here  is  the  village  ;  back  of  it,  on  the  first  rock- 
terrace,  is  the  modern  fort.  The  old  Fort  Holmes,  captured 
by  the  British,  is  on  the  highest  dome  of  the  island,  350  feet 

4 


42  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

above  the  lake.  As  we  pass  along  the  limestone  wall  which 
bounds  the  island,  we  see  the  waves  breaking  against  the  bar- 
rier. We  notice  the  peculiar  smooth  concavities  into  which 
they  wore  the  exposed  surface.  These  are  marks  character- 
istic of  wave  action.  Our  eyes  follow  along  the  weathered 
buttresses  to  the  summit.  From  bottom  to  top  are  the  same 
records  of  warring  waves.  There  was  evidently  a  time  when 
the  lake  acted  at  the  height  of  150  feet  precisely  as  it  acts 
to-day  at  the  lake-level,  before  our  eyes.  We  ascend  to  the 
main  plateau  of  the  island.  On  this  rises  a  striking  monu- 
ment-like remnant  of  a  formation  which  once  covered  the 
whole  of  this  plateau  to  an  altitude  at  least  134  feet  greater. 
This  is  "  Sugar  Loaf."  But  notice  the  fashion  of  its  sides. 
Here,  too,  are  the  same  smooth  conchoidal  depressions  as  the 
lake  is  still  carving  in  the  wall  at  the  water's  edge.  The  waves 
have  certainly  been  there.  The  time  was  when  Lakes  Huron 
and  "Michigan  stood  at  least  200  feet  higher  than  at  present. 
Think  of  that  condition  of  things.  Picture  the  lakes  filled 
up  till  the  water  covered  Sugar  Loaf.  At  present,  Lake  Su- 
perior stands  twenty  feet  higher  than  Lakes  Michigan  and 
Huron.  These  are  sixteen  feet  higher  than  Lake  Erie  ;  and 
the  descent  thence  to  Lake  Ontario  is  323  feet.  This  is  accord- 
ing to  Gannett.  Now,  we  find  lake-terraces  up  to  three,  four 
and  five  hundred  feet  above  the  present  levels  of  the  lakes. 
But  let  us  assume  the  principal  terrace  south  of  Lake  Erie 
as  representing  the  highest  flood  of  the  lakes.  This  220  feet 
above  Lake  Erie,  204  feet  above  Lakes  Huron  and  Michigan, 
and  180  feet  higher  than  Lake  Superior.  We  have  perfectly 
satisfactory  proof  that  the  water  of  the  Great  Lakes  has  stood 
at  least  as  high  as  this.  Now  let  us  cast  our  eyes  over  the 
expanse.  The  sites  of  all  the  busy  and  populous  lake  cities 
are  submerged.  The  greater  part  of  the  peninsula  of  Ontario 
is  under  water.  The  flood  stretches  westward  of  Detroit 
twenty -seven  miles.  There,  near  Ypsilanti  is  the  ancient  beach 
which  marks  the  limit  of  the  flood.  Mackinac  Island  is  sub- 
merged to  the  pinnacle  of  Sugar  Loaf.  Passing  around  to 
the  head  of  Lake  Michigan,  we  find  the  vast  inland  sea 


THE  FLOODS  OF  THE  GREAT  LAKES.  43 

stretching  southward  and  westward  over  a  large  part  of  the 
state  of  Illinois. 

What  hemmed  in  this  broad  expanse  of  water  on  the 
south  ?  This  interesting  question  has  not  been  completely 
answered.  We  know  that  in  southern  Illinois  are  the  remains 
of  an  ancient  barrier  which  crossed  the  Mississippi,  and  was 
worn  down  for  the  passage  of  the  great  river.  The  barrier  is 
a  prolongation  of  the  Ozark  range,  from  Missouri.  The  gap 
cut  through  is  at  Grand  Tower.  Perhaps  here  was  the  bar- 
rier which  held  the  waters  back  at  the  west,  until  the  Missis- 
sippi gradually  sawed  the  notch  which  drained  the  inland  sea. 
At  the  east,  however,  we  know  no  barrier  adequate  to  hold 
the  lakes  at  the  level  of  the  220  feet  terrace  of  Lake  Erie. 
The  high  flood  of  the  lakes  must  have  been  182  feet  higher 
than  the  escarpment  or  wall  of  rock  back  of  Lewiston,  through 
which  the  Niagara  river  has  cut  its  gorge.  Undoubtedly,  this 
escarpment,  which  runs  east  nearly  parallel  with  the  shore  of 
Lake  Ontario,  was  formerly  much  higher  than  at  present ;  but 
we  have  no  evidence  that  it  stood  190  feet  higher  than  in 
our  time. 

The  Lewiston  escarpment  is  at  present  38  feet  above  Lake 
Erie,  and  could  have  dammed  the  lake  to  that  height,  at  any 
time  before  the  Niagara  gorge  was  begun.  The  water,  setting 
back  to  the  site  of  Chicago,  would  have  buried  it  22  feet 
deep.  Even  this  would  overflow  the  present  southern  barrier 
of  Lake  Michigan,  and  inundate  the  prairie  region  of  Illinois. 
Thus,  the  existence  of  a  terrace,  but  38  feet  above  Lake  Erie 
would  indicate  that  the  great  lakes  once  flooded  the  greater 
part  of  the  state  of  Illinois.  Now,  if  we  examine  the  nature 
of  the  prairie  deposit,  it  presents  every  indication  of  forma- 
tion in  the  bottom  of  a  lake.  Here  is  the  stratified  arrange- 
ment ;  here  are  the  clay  and  marls,  and  here  are  even  the 
shells  of  the  molluscs  which  dwelt  in  the  water.  These  facts 
must  be  borne  in  mind. 

The  high  water  of  the  Great  Lakes  has  occurred  since  the 
Drift  was  deposited — since  the  latest  semi-stratified  Drift  was 
laid  down.  The  lake  terraces  rest  on  the  Drift.  All  the 


44  WALKS  AHD  TALKS. 

other  lacustrine  deposits  attending  the  high  water,  rest  on  the 
Drift.  The  entire  broad  region  covered  by  the  high  water  is 
overspread  by  a  sheet  of  lacustrine  clays  and  thin  seams  of 
sand.  These  deposits  exhibit  a  regular  horizontal  stratifica- 
tion. Occasionally  we  find  a  bowlder  imbedded  in  them. 
Excellent  material  for  bricks  and  pottery  is  furnished  by  the 
clays ;  and  in  many  situations,  as  at  Milwaukee,  the  absence 
of  iron  prevents  the  production  of  a  red  color  in  burning. 
The  famous  "Milwaukee  bricks"  are  of  a  pale  lemon  color, 
or  even,  in  some  cases,  as  white  as  chalk.  This  sort  of  clay 
occurs  on  both  sides  of  Lake  Michigan. 

These  lacustrine  deposits  rise  from  the  shore  with  the  gen- 
eral slope  of  the  earth's  surface,  to  the  upper  level  reached  by 
them.  The  lowest  beds  come  to  the  surface  at  the  highest 
elevation.  Often  these  are  sandy;  and,  becoming  saturated 
with  rain  at  the  surface,  they  convey  a  sheet  of  fresh  water 
under  the  other  deposits  to  the  lower  levels.  These  water- 
bearing sheets  pass  under  the  cities  which  have  been  built  in 
modern  times  on  the  lacustrine  border.  In  some  cases,  as  at 
Toledo,  and  many  points  on  the  north  shore  of  Lake  Erie, 
artesian  borings  have  been  carried  down  to  the  water-bearing 
strata,  and  thus  artesian  wells  have  been  obtained. 

We  have  been  considering  lake-terraces  and  high  water  in 
the  Great  Lakes.  But  every  observer  has  noticed  terraces 
also  along  the  borders  of  rivers.  On  the  lower  Ohio  they 
occur  up  to  160  feet  above  low  water ;  at  Louisville,  128  feet 
above  low  water;  near  Cincinnati,  120  feet.  On  the  Con- 
necticut, they  range  from  150  to  240  feet  above  the  modern 
flood  level.  On  the  Missouri  we  find  them  up  to  335  feet ; 
on  the  Athabasca  and  Saskatchewan,  up  to  370  feet.  There 
is  no  need  of  citing  further ;  for  these  facts  show  that  the 
rivers  in  all  the  northern  parts  of  the  country  have  been 
enormously  flooded,  as  well  as  the  lakes.  These  terraces,  also, 
rest  on  the  top  of  the  Drift  deposits.  The  flooded  waters, 
therefore,  in  general,  existed  after  the  events  which  left  the 
Drift  overspreading  the  northern  states. 

Now  let  us  reason  a  moment  from  the  facts  which  have 


THE  MUD  FLAT.  45 

been  brought  to  our  notice.  In  our  Second  and  Third  Talks 
we  have  been  led  to  speculate  on  the  possible  agency  which 
transported  the  bowlders  from  their  northern  home.  We 
have  been  thinking  of  glaciers  as  a  satisfactory  explanation ; 
and  this  view  was  adopted  by  the  late  Louis  Agassiz,  and  most 
ably  defended  by  him.  Now,  suppose  there  really,  was  a  vast 
glacier  covering  the  country  as  widely  as  the  Drift  at  present 
covers  it.  The  ice  must  have  melted;  it  is  not  here  now. 
Suppose  it  melted  rapidly ;  what  enormous  floods  must  have 
been  occasioned !  With  what  fury  those  floods  rushed  over  the 
country  to  the  lower  levels !  How  they  moved  and  mixed  and 
half  assorted  the  sands  and  pebbles !  May  not  such  a  flood 
have  produced  the  results  which  we  see  in  the  semi-stratified 
Drift?  And  then  may  not  an  excess  of  water  have  remained 
in  all  the  streams  long  after  the  southern  portion  of  the 
glacier  had  disappeared,  and  the  semi-stratified  Drift  had  been 
put  in  place?  Would  not  such  a  state  of  weather  as  accom- 
plished the  melting  of  the  ice  have  been  somewhat  like  our 
March  and  April  weather,  characterized  by  abundant  rains? 
Do  we  not  find  here  good  grounds  for  the  building  of  a 
theory  of  transported  bowlders,  half  assorted  sands  and 
flooded  rivers? 


VIII.  THE  MUD 

SEDIMENTATION. 

WHEN  the  road-side  pool  left  by  the  last  shower  dries 
away  a  film  of  fine  sediment  remains.  This  once  hung  in 
suspension  in  the  water;  it  was  gathered  up  from  the  land 
by  the  eddies  born  of  rain.  We  shall  see  that  this  simple 
observation  is  the  key  to  an  explanation  of  many  of  the  grand- 
est facts  in  the  world's  history. 

A  few  years  ago,  in  ascending  the  valley  of  the  Aar,  in 
Switzerland,  I  enjoyed  an  extraordinary  opportunity  to  ob- 
serve the  action  of  moving  water.  The  Aar  is  a  turbulent 
stream  issuing  from  the  foot  of  the  Aar  glacier  of  the  Jura 


46  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

Mountains.  It  comes  out  of  its  ice-roofed  cavern  milky  white 
with  the  clay  sediment  which  results  from  the  scouring  of  the 
rocks  by  the  sliding  glacier.  The  sharp  collision  of  trans- 
ported rock-fragments  accompanies  the  loud  roaring  of  the 
impetuous  stream.  On  this  occasion,  the  white  streamlet, 
always  rapid,  had  been  swollen  to  a  furious  torrent  by  a  re- 
cent cloud-burst.  The  torrent,  in  its  rage,  had  rent  all  bar- 
riers, and  coursed  over  the  adjacent  lands.  Stones,  up  to 
several  tons  in  weight,  had  been  hurled  right  and  left,  as  the 
autumn  wind  disperses  the  light  leaves  of  the  maples  along 
the  street.  Hundreds  of  acres  lay  buried  beneath  sand  and 
mud,  cobble-stones  and  massive  rocks.  The  rough  and  rocky 
slope  had  received  its  deposits ;  the  late  goat  pasture  lay  con- 
cealed beneath  a  bed  of  stones,  and  the  grassy  flat  was  hidden 
by  a  blanket  of  gravel  and  slime. 

Observe  the  power  of  assortment  exerted  by  the  moving 
water.  The  heavier  rocks  were  left  where  the  most  precipitous 
hill-side  graduated  into  the  sharp  slope.  Here  was  the  first 
abatement  of  the  force  of  the  stream.  It  dropped  what  could 
no  longer  be  moved  by  the  diminished  power  of  the  torrent. 
The  smaller  rocks  lay  next  in  order.  Where  the  sharp  slope 
passed  into  a  gentler  grade,  the  still  waning  force  of  the 
maddened  stream  became  insufficient  to  bear  them  on.  Still 
beyond,  on  the  lower  levels,  the  flood  was  widened,  its  veloc- 
ity slackened,  and  its'transportative  power  so  abated  that  the 
average  sized  cobble-stones  had  to  be  left.  Still  went  on  the 
gravel,  and  found  pause  only  on  the  pastures  where  domestic 
animals  had  been  grazing.  But  the  sand  was  borne  to  the 
level,  and  spread  itself  out  over  many  an  arable  field  and 
fragrant  meadow;  while  the  fine  alluvial  mud  had  floated  with 
the  tired  waters,  which  sought  out  sheltered  nooks  and  de- 
pressions in  which  to  rest. 

This  was  yesterday.  This  morning  the  lesson  lay  before 
me.  Here  were  effects  of  a  geological  cause  on  whose  action 
the  startled  peasant  yesterday  gazed  despairingly.  He  needs 
no  theory  to  convince  him  of  the  nature  and  mode  of  action 
of  the  forces  which  devastated  his  fields;  and  I,  who  found 


THE  MUD  FLAT.  47 

in  Switzerland  many  windrows  of  gathered  cobble-stones  and 
pebbles,  and  sheets  of  assorted  sands  and  mud,  miles  in  ex- 
tent, felt  that  it  was  scarcely  a  theoretical  view  to  attribute 
these  larger  results  of  the  same  kind  to  a  geologic  agency  of 
a  similar  nature,  though  it  had  acted  unknown  ages  before 
human  eyes  had  been  created. 

Not  far  from  the  home  of  my  boyhood  was  the  mill-pond, 
dear  to  every  school-ward  trudging  urchin  who  had  to  pass  it, 
and  a  Saturday  resort  for  many  others  who  lived  in  the  ad- 
joining "  district."  Here  we  bathed  ;  here  we  fished  ;  here  we 
risked  our  lives  in  shaky  skiffs,  and  astride  of  unmanageable 
logs.  The  water  was  deep  and  clear.  Last  summer  I  visited 
the  old  pond.  Like  the  anxious  parents,  who  shared  with 
mill-pond  the  affection  of  which  boyish  hearts  are  susceptible, 
the  scene  of  so  much  truant  enjoyment  was  changed  almost 
beyond  recognition.  The  deep,  clear  water  was  silted  up,  and 
flags  were  thrusting  their  brown  noses  up,  in  the  sites  where 
I  used  to  swim  in  summer  and  skate  in  winter.  Sedges 
fringed  the  borders ;  bulrushes,  to  their  knees  in  water,  were 
holding  possession  of  land  that  was  expected  to  be,  and  the 
encroaching  marsh  threatened  to  corner  the  anxious  perches 
and  sunfishes  in  the  last  lingering  bowl  of  clear  water  close  by 
the  decrepit  old  dam.  This,  I  thought,  is  a  picture  of  the 
history  of  the  world.  How  long,  I  queried,  before  this  mill- 
pond  will  be  a  swamp  ?  Is  this  the  impending  fate  of  all  our 
ponds  and  lakelets  ?  Johnny,  do  you  think  your  favorite 
skating  place  will  over  come  to  this? 

The  first  land-surveyors  of  the  territory  of  Michigan  laid 
down  on  their  plats  an  extraordinary  number  of  swamps  and 
bogs.  It  is  true  they  greatly  overdid  the  swamp-land  business ; 
but  swamps  are  there  in  plentiful  abundance ;  and  swamps 
properly  drained  and  tilled  are  the  richest  lands  in  the  state. 
But  the  early  settlers  of  Michigan  found  many  of  the  swamps 
non-existent;  some  were  grassy  plains;  some  were  quaking 
bogs,  and  others  were  part  marsh  and  part  lakelet.  During 
sixty  years,  many  of  the  quaking  bogs  have  become  solid 
meadows;  and  many  of  the  marsh-side  lakelets  have  totally 


48  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

disappeared,  under  the  encroachments  of  the  growing  marsh. 
These  are  geological  changes,  and  the  geologist's  eye  looks 
about  for  the  causes.  It  is  not  a  far-fetched  solution  to  see  in 
the  hillside  wash  a  source  of  silt,  which  annually  diminishes 
the  depth  of  water  to  a  certain  extent.  And  it  requires  but 
ordinary  sagacity  to  notice  each  decaying  crop  of  grasses, 
sedges,  and  rushes  as  the  source  of  the  dark  peaty  deposit 
which  displaces  the  last  water,  when  other  causes  have  pro- 
duced the  requisite  shallowness.  We  have  caught  the  marsh- 
making  business  in  the  midst  of  its  accomplishment.  Short 
as  our  lives  are,  each  life  falls  within  the  geologic  age  in  which 
vast  results  are  actually  working  out.  All  these  marshes  have 
been  lakes.  If  we  dig  in  them  we  find  the  bleached  relics  of 
the  very  shells  which  held  animated  tenants  of  the  vanished 
lakelet.  Thus,  gathering  sediments  add  sheet  after  sheet  to 
the  deposits  which  are  filling  the  larger  as  well  as  the  smaller 
bodies  of  water  which  rest  on  the  earth's  surface. 

All  great  rivers  are  enormous  mud-carriers.  The  Nile,  the 
Amazons,  the  Ganges,  the  Hoang  Ho,  the  Mississippi,  are 
great  vehicles  for  the  transport  of  earthy  substances  from  the 
higher  to  the  lower  levels.  Like  the  Tiber,  their  waters  are 
all  "yellow."  The  Chinese  have  surpassed  all  other  nations 
in  making  a  proper  name  of  the  generic  description  of  muddy 
rivers.  What  a  potion  is  a  glass  of  Mississippi  water,  placed 
by  the  side  of  one's  plate  in  the  cabin  of  the  steamer!  In 
thirty  minutes  it  holds  a  deposit  of  impalpable  sediment,  which 
is  simply  mud.  Think  of  the  entire  breadth  and  depth  of 
this  mighty  stream  charged  with  earthy  materials  to  such  an 
extent.  What  must  be  the  total  amount  of  matter  carried 
down  to  the  Gulf  annually?  The  engineers  of  the  United 
States  have  attempted  to  answer  this  question.  They  say  that 
if  the  annual  discharge  of  mud  were  brought  together  and 
dried,  it  would  form  a  block  a  mile  square  and  two  hundred 
and  seventy-eight  feet  high.  Imagine  that  block  lying  on  the 
surface  of  some  level  township.  Then  think  another  block 
on  the  top — the  result  of  another  year's  transport.  Recall  the 
fact  that  the  Mississippi  has  been  at  this  business  at  least  five 


THE  MUD  FLAT.  49 

or  six  thousand  years.     Put  five  or  six  thousand  such  blocks 
together ;  the  aggregate  would  be  a  mountain  range. 

There  are  seasons  when  the  proud  river  climbs  over  its 
bounds — climbs  over  the  artificial  restraints  which  have  been 
imposed  in  the  form  of  levees.  Water  and  mud  spread  over 
hundreds  of  plantations.  Then,  as  in  the  overflowing  torrent 
of  the  Aar,  the  slackened  motion  of  the  water  allows  the  fine 
sediment  to  subside.  Corn  lands  and  cotton  lands  receive  a 
new  contribution  of  fertilizing  material.  Such  service  the 
Nile  performs  for  Egyptian  agriculture — under  the  rule  of  the 
Khedives,  as  during  the  reigns  of  the  Pharaohs.  Thus  the 
deltas  of  the  great  rivers  are  formed.  Still  the  great  prepon- 
derance of  river  silt  passes  on  to  the  outlets.  Not  only  the 
floating  sediment,  but  a  large  amount  of  bottom  mud,  too 
thick  to  float  and  too  loose  to  lie  unmoved.  This  the  stream 
pushes  along  into  the  sea — year  by  year  into  deeper  and  deeper 
water,  as  the  shallower  shore  region  becomes  silted  up.  This 
is  the  bar.  By  the  annual  extension  of  the  bar,  the  delta 
gradually  protrudes  a  tongue  of  land  into  the  sea.  Look  at 
a  map  of  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  or  the  Nile,  or  the 
Ganges.  Often  the  piled  up  bar-material  so  obstructs  the  exit 
through  the  main  channel,  that  the  water  sets  back  up  the 
stream  during  some  flood,  overflows  its'banks,  and  seeks  a  new 
route  to  the  sea.  This  may  be  many  times  repeated.  So 
these  great  rivers  acquire  numerous  outlets.  Look  at  the 
map  again.  The  bar  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  extends 
three  hundred  and  thirty-eight  feet  into  the  Gulf  annually. 

Much  of  the  Mississippi  sediment,  therefore,  lies  somewhat 
permanently  on  the  Gulf  bottom,  near  the  shore.  Through 
this  Engineer  Eads  has  staked  out  a  channel,  to  which  the 
current  of  the  Mississippi  is  confined  after  entering  the  Gulf, 
until  deep  water  is  reached.  Its  velocity  is  thus  preserved, 
and  its  mud  is  carried  beyond  into  the  deeper  basin.  Before 
this  improvement,  the  water  spread  out  fan-like,  and  slackened 
its  velocity  to  such  an  extent  that  the  mud  was  deposited  in  a 
region  where  the  water  was  already  so  shallow  that  navigation 
became  seriously  obstructed. 

5 


50  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

\ 

Still,  some  of  the  sediment  floats  on  beyond  the  bar. 
There  is  a  current  in  the  Gulf  which  sets  eastward  along  the 
northern  border,  and  bears  Mississippi  sediment  as  far  as  the 
straits  of  Florida.  The  fine  impalpable  dust  finally  comes  to 
rest  on  the  bottom  of  the  Gulf. 

A  thousand  rivers  thus  are  bringing  their  contributions  to 
the  sea.  Around  ten  thousand  miles  of  coast,  the  sea  itself  is 
battering  down  the  land.  The  coarser  fragments  are  left 
along  the  beach.  The  enfeebled  action  of  the  retreating  surf 
bears  some  distance  seaward  the  smaller  fragments  and  the 
pebbles — rolled  and  rounded  on  the  beach.  The  finest  sedi- 
ments have  no  opportunity  to  subside  till  floated  far  from 
shore.  Thus  the  same  assortment  is  exerted  which  we  saw 
effected  by  the  torrent  of  the  Aar.  The  ocean's  bottom  lies 
covered  to  a  vast  extent  with  sheets  of  sedimentary  materials 
which,  near  the  shore,  are  coarse,  and  remoter  from  shore  are 
progressively  finer,  as  far  as  the  finest  sediments  are  floated. 
This  process  goes  forward  before  our  eyes;  it  has  been  con- 
tinued during  all  the  thousands  of  ages  past,  since  the  ocean 
first  came  into  existence.  How  many  layers  must  there  be? 
How  many  feet  of  sediments  have  been  piled  up  ?  What 
conditions  have  they  assumed  while  the  geologic  seons  have 
rolled  by? 


IX.    THE  RIVER  GORGE. 

EROSION. 

WHENCE  come  the  sediments  which  muddy  the  rivers  and 
fill  the  lakelets,  and  make  even  the  oceans  shallower?  The 
query  must  have  occurred  to  you  as  we  talked  about  the 
abundance  of  sediments ;  yet,  simple  as  it  is,  comparatively 
few  people  have  considered  it.  These  sediments  must  all  come 
from  some  source  where  they  existed  as  solid,  massive  constit- 
uents of  our  planet.  They  are  portions  of  the  planet  trans- 
ported from  one  position  to  another.  Their  transportation 
changes  the  figure  of  the  planet.  Every  film  of  sediment  pro- 
claims that  the  fashion  of  the  planet  has  been  worked  over  to 


THE  RIVER  GORGE.  51 

some  extent.  The  making  of  the  planet  has  been  merely  a 
progressive  changing  of  the  fashion  of  the  materials  of  which 
it  is  composed.  If  the  completed  planet  as  we  see  it  is  the 
product  of  geological  forces,  then  the  work  of  sedimentation 
proceeds  by  means  of  forces  which  are  geological.  The  least 
mentionable  portion  of  that  work  is  performed  by  such  force. 
The  filling  of  boyhood's  mill-pond  was  a  geological  work. 
The  slime  settled  by  the  roadside  is  a  geological  phenomenon. 
These  are  results  accomplished;  let  us  see  how  far  we  can 
trace  them  to  their  causes,  and  thus  unfold  a  bit  of  the 
world's  history. 

The  sediments  have  been  brought  by  moving  waters ;  we 
must  therefore  trace  the  waters  to  their  sources ;  we  must  re- 
trace their  course  from  the  higher  level.  Obviously,  the 
roadside  slime  has  descended  the  rill-ways  from  the  middle  of 
the  street ;  from  the  hill-slope  down  which  a  portion  of  the 
water  descended.  Some  water  flowed  down  the  field-slope, 
moved  under  the  fences,  and  found  its  course  to  the  road-side 
pool,  bringing  as  much  sediment  with  it  as  it  had  power  to 
bear.  The  corn-fields  have  been  taxed ;  the  earth  built  into 
the  highway  has  been  stolen  ;  the  form  and  bulk  of  the  hill 
have  been  changed.  So  the  farmer's  fields  contributed  the 
material  which  lies  in  the  bottom  of  the  mill-pond.  To  some 
extent,  the  fields  have  been  scraped  down  and  impoverished. 
There  lies  the  farmer's  property  spread  over  a  surface  which 
forms  the  floor  of  the  sunfishes'  home. 

Over  every  square  mile  flows  some  stream.  The  smallest 
stream,  as  well  as  the  largest,  occupies  a  valley;  and  down 
its  slopes  descend  the  sediment-laden  drainage  waters  which 
seek  the  stream  to  join  in  its  journey  to  the  lower  levels. 
Follow  the  streamlet.  Along  every  rod  of  its  course  we  find 
discharged  during  a  rain  the  muddy  washings  of  the  land. 
The  streamlet  grows.  Many  a  lateral  rill  brings  in  its  con- 
tribution from  the  fields  which  stretch  in  another  direction. 
Our  streamlet  flows  on,  and  sooner  or  later  it  discharges  its 
burden  in  some  larger  stream,  which  has  already  grown  to  its 
present  volume  by  the  contribution  of  a  score  of  streamlets 


52  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

higher  up  the  valley.  All  are  merged  together;  but  we  are 
sure  the  water  and  the  mud  from  our  own  village — our  own 
farms — are  there  with  the  rest.  The  stream  moves  on — it 
never  rests — and  it  grows  as  it  moves.  It  courses  across  a 
State ;  it  marks  a  boundary  between  States.  Men  have  made 
it  a  vehicle  for  floating  logs ;  a  highway  for  skiffs  and  barges. 
Now,  the  more  pompous  stream  styles  itself  a  river.  It 
hastens  to  join  the  Ohio  and  share  in  the  dignity  of  floating 
steamboats  and  carrying  on  the  commerce  of  a  populous 
valley.  The  Ohio  has  even  surpassed  the  tributary  by  which 
we  have  been  led,  in  taking  on  its  cargo  of  mud.  We  stand 
in  the  middle  of  the  suspension  bridge  at  Cincinnati  and  look 
down  on  the  yellow  surface  of  the  great  stream.  There  go 
the  contributions  from  half  a  dozen  States.  There  goes  the 
soil  filched  from  our  garden,  or  torn  from  our  new-made  road, 
two  hundred  miles  away.  We  know  it  is  there. 

Look  on  the  map  and  notice  how  many  rivers  are  bring- 
ing their  sediments  to  the  Ohio.  Trace  these  tributaries  to 
their  sources.  From  how  wide  a  territory  is  the  mud  gath- 
ered which  thus  rushes  down  with  the  main  river?  Notice 
that  the  Ohio  carries  its  burden  to  the  Mississippi.  Look 
again  upon  the  map  and  see  how  many  other  great  rivers 
bring  the  mud  from  other  far-off  regions  to  concentrate  it  all 
in  the  mighty  Father  of  Waters.  Here  float  sediments  from 
western  New  York,  from  West  Virginia,  from  the  Ozark  Mount- 
ains, from  the  Cumberland  Table  Land,  from  Minnesota,  and 
the  Indian  Territory.  Here  in  this  resistless  tide  floats  the  iden- 
tical soil  which  was  washed  from  Farmer  Jones's  potato  field. 

In  this  view,  consider  the  great  Missouri.  It  pours  its 
yellow  stream  into  the  clearer  tide  of  the  Mississippi  a  few 
miles  above  St.  Louis.  I  have  stood  on  the  deck  of  a  steamer 
between  Alton  and  St.  Louis  and  looked  down  on  the  Mis- 
souri's turbid  volume  pushing  far  into  the  Mississippi,  and  re- 
taining for  miles  a  distinct  boundary  between  the  waters  of 
the  two  rivers.  It  appears  that  the  contributions  from  the 
far  northwest  exceed  all  those  from  the  east.  Follow  the 
whirling  tide  of  the  Missouri  upward  toward  its  sources. 


THE  RIVER  GORGE.  53 

There  stand  great  cities  on  its  alluvial  banks.  The  crumbling 
bluffs  by  spells  slide  into  the  river.  Above  the  limits  of  city 
populations  the  river  is  already  gathering'  in  the  mud  destined 
to  journey  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico — mud  which  has  already 
been  floated  from  some  remoter  region  and  deposited  here  at 
times  of  overflow.  Here  comes  the  Niobrara,  with  slime  from 
the  prairies  of  Nebraska;  the  Cheyenne,  with  washings  from 
the  mining  camps  in  the  Black  Hills ;  the  Little  Missouri 
and  Yellowstone,  with  sands  worn  from  the  Big  Horn,  the 
Wind  River,  and  the  Snow  Mountains ;  here,  on  a  grassy 
plain,  unite  the  Jefferson,  Madison  and  Gallatin  tributaries, 
which  bring  the  dust  of  the  continent  from  the  high  water- 
shed of  the  Red  Rock  Mountains,  which  parts  the  continental 
drainage  to  opposite  points  of  the  compass.  It  is  a  bewildering 
breadth  and  complexity  of  operations.  Over  every  foot  of  this 
wasting  expanse  the  land  is  yielding  to  the  corrosive  action  of 
rivers  and  rains  and  frosts.  The  proud  mountain  domes  and 
pinnacles  are  coming  down  to  acknowledge  the  supremacy  of 
the  powers  of  denudation.  The  Rocky  Mountains  have  begun 
their  journey  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Cubic  miles  of  their 
granitic  substance  are  buried  in  the  delta  of  Louisiana  and  the 
bar  of  the  Mississippi. 

Now  that  we  discover  in  action  the  forces  which  could 
transform  the  face  of  the  land  in  some  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  years,  we  take  a  new  view  of  the  aspects  of  the  terrestrial 
surface  which  had  already  been  acquired  when  man  came  into 
existence.  We  discover  that  the  face  of  the  earth  had  already 
been  transformed  before  we  began  our  observations  on  it,  and 
by  means  of  agencies  which  corroded  the  rocks  and  carried 
away  the  materials  precisely  as  the  forces  of  nature  are  wast- 
ing the  continent  before  our  eyes.  We  have  already  recog- 
nized the  fact  that  aqueous  erosion  cut  through  the  Straits  of 
Mackinac  and  chiseled  down  the  steep  sides  of  the  monumental 
island  in  the  Straits.  We  have  seen  the  deep  precipitous- 
walled  gorge  of  the  Niagara,  and  the  rock-bluffs  bounding  on 
certain  sides  the  basins  of  the  great  lakes — the  works  of 
rivers  and  waves. 


54  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

Every  river,  in  its  search  for  a  resting-place,  has  cut  a 
way  of  even  grade  across  the  inequalities  of  the  land,  and  the 
rubbish  has  been  dumped  somewhere — in  alluvial  border  or 
broad  delta,  or  seaward  rolling  bar.  The  Tampa  has  sawed 
a  broad  gash  through  the  Uinta  range  on  its  way  to  the  Green 
river.  The  Green  has  cut  a  dark  chasm  down  through  the 
plateaus  of  Colorado  to  the  river  whose  colored  waters,  poured 
in  from  the  snow-born  floods  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  gave 
name  to  the  river  and  the  state.  The  Colorado,  with  aug- 
mented force,  has  dug  a  deeper  and  a  wider  canon  through 
the  shattered  terraces  of  the  southern  half  of  the  state.  The 
"Grand  Canon"  sinks  vertically  six  thousand  feet  through 
the  rocks — a  terrific  gash,  like  a  sabre-cut  from  some  of  the 
powers  of  Nature. 

"  It  looks  as  if  broken  by  bolts  of  thunder, 
Riven  and  driven  by  turbulent  time." 

So  a  hundred  rivers  of  the  far  west  have  scored  the  land. 
So  the  Cumberland,  the  Kentucky,  the  Hudson,  the  James, 
the  Mississippi,  by  gentle  worrying  of  the  underlying  rocks, 
have  plowed  out  channels  whose  steep  walls  rise  as  high  as 
the  smoke  from  the  steamer  which  utilizes  the  water-way. 
We  have  not  seen  these  works  begun;  but  we  see  them  in 
progress ;  and  we  feel  bound  in  reason  to  infer  that  the  rivers 
have  worked  in  the  distant  past  as  they,  are  working  before 
our  eyes. 

There  are  other  erosions,  however,  which  were  effected  not 
only  before  human  times,  but  by  agencies  which  have  disap- 
peared from  existence.  There  are  the  Catskill  Mountains — 
essentially  a  mere  wall  of  horizontally  laid  slabs  of  red  sand- 
stone. We  have  not  detected  Nature  anywhere  raising  such 
a  wall.  These  mountains  must  be  a  remnant  of  a  broad  for- 
mation once  stretching  far  east  and  west.  The  forces  of  ero- 
sion have  worn  away  the  formation  on  both  sides,  and  the 
Catskills  stand  forth  a  feature  of  relief,  as  the  statue  emerges 
from  the  block  of  stone  under  the  chisel  of  the  sculptor. 
Such,  too,  is  the  Cumberland  Table  Land,  high  up-raised  like 
a  mountain,  but  yet  not  uplifted.  It  is  a  mere  salience  re- 


THE  RIVER  GOKGE.  55 

suiting  from  the  vast  erosions  that  have  taken  place  along  its 
western  border.  In  central  Tennessee,  indeed,  this  erosive 
process  has  excavated  a  basin  a  hundred  miles  in  diameter, 
bounded  on  all  sides  by  the  ragged  edges  of  the  formations 
which  were  left. 

So  this  completed  work  of  erosive  powers  which  have  re- 
tired from  action  is  commemorated  in  many  a  monument-like 
outlier  in  Wisconsin  and  Minnesota.  A  great  formation 
which  once  overspread  many  a  township  has  all  been  carried 
away,  save  here  and  there  an  isolated  remnant  which  lies  like 
an  island  in  the  midst  of  geology  of  a  different  character.  It 
is  the  Potsdam  Sandstone  which  has  been  thus  eroded;  but 
wide  areas  still  remain,  and  underlie  portions  of  those  states. 
Similar  are  the  columns  in  Monument  Park,  and  the  ruins  in 
the  "  Garden  of  the  gods."  Like  the  great  basin  of  central 
Tennessee  are  many  of  the  excavations  in  the  Bad  Lands  of 
the  Upper  Missouri  and  in  New  Mexico.  We  shall  have 
other  occasion  to  talk  about  these ;  for  they  are  burial  places 
of  the  brute  populations  which  held  possession  of  America 
before  the  advent  of  man. 

These  two  great  processes,  erosion  and  sedimentation, 
must  be  vividly  appreciated.  The  whole  history  of  the  visi- 
ble land  has  consisted  chiefly  of  up-building  and  destruction, 
rebuilding  and  disintegration,  by  the  action  of  forces  which 
have  left  gigantic  monuments  of  their  former  power,  and 
are  even  in  our  times,  working  on  a  scale  large  enough 
to  illustrate  to  us  how  the  foundations  of  the  land  were  laid, 
and  how  the  face  of  the  earth  has  been  carved  into  the  fashion 
it  presents  to  our  interested  eyes. 

In  another  walk  we  must  follow  the  sediments,  under  the 
sea,  and  try  to  learn  what  goes  on  in  the  mysterious  abysses 
through  which  no  highway  has  been  opened. 


56  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

X.  A  \VALK:  UNDER  THE  SEA. 

WHAT  GOES   ON   IN   THE   OCEAN   DEPTHS. 

"THE  sea!  the  sea!"  shouted  the  companions  of  Balboa, 
as  they  caught  the  first  glimpse  of  the  Pacific  from  the  heights 
of  the  American  Isthmus.  The  sea  has  always  inspired  the 
wonder — often  the  veneration — of  mankind.  Its  vastness  and 
power  overwhelm  the  imagination.  Its  permanence,  its  an- 
tiquity, form  a  bewildering  conception.  The  same  ''far- 
sounding  sea "  roared  in  the  hearing  of  the  mariners  of  the 
remotest  past.  The  same  ocean  floated  the  ships  of  the  Tyri- 
ans  and  Carthaginians.  Its  mysterious  depths  aroused  the 
superstitions  of  the  ancients  as  they  excite  the  intelligent 
curiosity  of  modern  science.  A  "glorious  mirror,"  as  Byron 
conceived  it, 

"  Where  the  Almighty's  form 
Glasses  itself  in  tempests.    *    *    *    * 

Boundless,  endless,  and  sublime, 
The  image  of  eternity — the  throne 
Of  the  invisible." 

Let  us  stand  on  some  bold  headland  and  look  out  over  the 
Atlantic.  Let  us  plant  ourselves  on  Sankaty  Head,  the  east- 
ern promontory  of  Nantucket,  itself  the  "ultima  Thule"  of 
New  England.  The  breakers  roar  along  the  beach.  Across 
the  billowy  blue  thought  wanders  to  the  European  shore. 
Underneath  the  ruffled  surface  imagination  pictures  a  world 
of  curious  and  wonderful  existences.  There  lie  the  skeletons 
of  noble  ships — there  moulder  the  dead  sailors  of  all  nations — 
there  rot  invaluable  cargoes — there  sleep  the  mysteries  of 
steamers  which  sailed  out  of  sight  of  land  and  never  returned — 
there  swarm  the  sharks  that  desecrate  the  sacred  forms  of 
humanity  which  sink  into  their  silent  empire.  Shall  we  ven- 
ture among  the  dangers  of  the  under-world  ?  Yes,  we  invoke 
the  magic  protection  which  has  made  warriors  invulnerable, 
and  shielded  adventurers  upon  the  waters  of  Styx,  and  the 
fiery  waves  of  Phlegethon. 


A  WALK  UNDER  THE  SEA.  57 

We  go  down  like  bathers  in  the  sea.  We  pass  the  mar- 
gin where 

"  The  dreary  back  seaweed  lolls  and  wags." 

We  traverse  the  borders  where  the  brown,  belted  kelp  sways 
to  and  fro  in  graceful  curves.  We  get  beyond  the  slope  of 
stony  bottom  to  the  smooth  sand.  We  come  to  the  gardens 
of  the  rosy-tinted  sea-mosses — the  Dasya,  the  Grinnellia,  the 
Callithamnion ;  and  startle  the  blue-fish  and  halibut  in  their 
safe  seclusion.  A  moonlight  gleam  is  here,  and  the  water 
also  takes  on  the  chill  of  evening.  We  pass  on,  and  attain  a 
depth  of  half  a  mile.  Our  feet  press  into  the  finer  sediments 
derived  from  the  land— the  dust  of  other  ''continents  to  be.'' 
The  twilight  has  faded  into  a  deep  shade.  The  creatures  of 
the  sea  swarm  curiously  about  us,  then  flee  in  terror  from 
our  presence.  We  feel  the  gentle  movement  of  "a  river  in 
the  ocean,"  but  the  surface  disturbances  do  not  reach  even  to 
this  depth.  A  change  of  climate  impresses  itself  on  our  sen- 
sations. The  water  where  we  started  in  had  a  temperature 
of  sixty  degrees — here  it  is  forty.  But  we  are  panoplied 
against  harm  ;  we  press  on.  We  descend  to  the  depth  of  a 
mile  under  the  sea.  The  curiously  gazing  species  of  the  shal- 
lower water  appear  no  more.  Their  home  is  the  zone  which 
now  stretches  above  our  heads.  The  green  and  rosy  sea- 
mosses  never  venture  here.  We  are  in  total  darkness ;  no 
chlorophyll  tints  the  growths  of  th$  vegetable  kingdom.  Here 
are  only  stony,  white  calcareous  algse  and  silicious  diatoms  of 
microscopic  minuteness. 

We  pause  to  contemplate  the  awful  stillness  of  the  subma- 
rine realm,  and  feel  our  slimy  path  down  to  the  deeper  pro- 
found. Above  us  now  float  two  miles  of  black  sea.  Any 
surface  fish  brought  down  here  perishes  from  the  effect  of 
enormous  pressure,  if  possessing  an  air-bladder.  If  it  have 
none,  the  fish  becomes  torpid,  and  finally  dies.  We  are  here, 
probably  miles  from  the  shore — that  varies  with  the  steepness 
of  the  slope.  The  sediments  which  the  rivers  have  brought 
to  the  ocean  have  mostly  been  deposited  between  our  starting 


58  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

point  and  this.  But  here  still  are  some  of  the  finest  particles 
contributed  by  the  land — slime  from  Louisiana,  from  Chau- 
tauqua,  from  the  Rocky  Mountains,  from  our  native  town. 
Will  these  far-brought  and  commingled  atoms  ever  see  day- 
light again? 

We  are  standing  on  the  border  of  the  vast  abyss  which 
extends  over  half  the  area  of  the  earth.  It  is  an  undulating, 
silent  desert.  No  diversity  of  mountain  and  valley,  cliff  and 
gorge  exists.  We  have  read  of  submarine  cliffs  and  plateaus, 
but  these  are  known  only  in  the  shallower  ocean ;  they  are 
features  of  the  continental  slope.  By  a  gentle  grade  the  bot- 
tom descends  to  a  depth  of  five  miles.  Over  all  this  dread 
waste,  no  rocks  rise  above  the  bed  of  slime.  No  fragments  of 
crystalline  rocks  have  been  brought  up  by  the  dredge.  A 
thousand  miles  away  the  bottom  has  been  burst  through  by 
an  internal  force,  and  lavas  have  heaped  themselves  up  to  the 
height  of  a  mile  or  two,  or  even  to  the  actual  surface ;  but 
no  upheaval  has  brought  to  light  from  the  abysmal  floor  any 
trace  of  those  hard  crystalline  rocks  which  we  recognize  as 
"  metamorphic " — the  sort  of  which  our  bowlders  are  formed. 
There  is  no  evidence  that  such  rocks  were  ever  produced  in 
that  situation. 

The  pressure  on  us  in  this  abysmal  region  is  four  or  five 
tons  to  every  square  inch.  The  water  is  ice-cold  everywhere. 
The  darkness,  absolute  and  palpable.  A  curdling  revulsion 
of  feeling  and  purpose  seizes  us.  We  halt  and  reflect.  We 
turn  our  eyes  upward  with  a  painful  longing  for  the  "  holy 
light,  offspring  of  heaven  first-born."  Only  the  black  ceiling 
appears.  Two  miles  above  us  is  the  sunny  sea,  where  all  the 
blue  of  a  genial  sky  beams  down.  There  float  the  ships  in 
summer  calm  upon  a  ''painted  ocean,"  or  tossed  and  rent  by 
the  winter  tempest  which  inspires  the  waves  with  madness. 
But  no  summer  and  winter  vicissitudes  are  here.  No  sun- 
light ever  penetrates  this  Cimmerian  gloom.  No  sunrise,  or 
noonday,  or  sunset  is  ever  known.  As  it  was  when  the  Gar- 
den of  Eden  was  first  consecrated  to  man,  so  it  has  remained 
and  must  remain.  Not  even  the  crash  of  thunders  or  the 


A  WALK  UNDER  THE  SEA.  59 

roar  of  tempests  can  be  heard.  The  huge  wave,  crested  with 
elemental  fury,  rolls  on,  but  makes  no  stir  in  the  stillness  and 
stagnation  of  the  abysmal  realm. 

When  we  crossed  the  borders  of  this  dark  and  silent  abyss, 
our  feet  sank  in  a  white  pasty  slime  which  has  been  desig- 
nated "  Globigerina  ooze."  The  dredges  of  the  CJiallenger 
and  the  Albatross  have  been  down  here,  hung  by  a  piano 
wire  over  the  stern  of  the  vessel,  and  samples  of  this  ooze 
have  been  studied.  We  find  it  composed  chiefly  of  micro- 
scopic dead  shells  called  Fo-ram-i-nif'-e-ra,  together  with  others 
called  Pter'-o-pods.  The  little  creatures  which  formed  the 
shells  do  not  live  here ;  they  dwell  in  calm  zones  of  water  far 
above.  When  the  conscious  animal  ceases  to  live,  its  tiny 
house  sinks  down  into  this  dark  world.  And  thus,  as  the 
ages  roll  by,  the  fine  chalky  rain  slowly  accumulates  upon  the 
bottom.  When  this  ooze  is  dried  and  hardened,  it  resembles 
the  chalk  of  Europe ;  and  when  that  is  microscopically  ex- 
amined, we  find  in  it  the  same  little  Foraminifera.  These  are 
important  geological  facts,  which,  though  they  come  out  of 
an  abyss  of  darkness,  throw  a  vivid  light  on  equally  dark 
chapters  of  the  world's  long-past  history. 

We  have  groped  our  way  down  three  and  four  miles  be- 
neath daylight.  A  sort  of  ooze  still  overspreads  the  bottom  ; 
but  it  is  not  the  Globigerina  and  Pteropod  ooze.  It  is  a  fine 
rusty  clay.  But  the  white  shells  are  not  wanting  because  the 
tiny  creatures  which  secrete  them  are  not  overhead.  They 
swarm  there  as  elsewhere,  far  from  land  with  other  pelagw 
forms.  But  the  fragile  matter  of  the  shell  is  dissolved  before 
it  reaches  this  great  depth.  Only  the  aluminous  and  insolu- 
ble constituent  reaches  the  bottom.  This  clay  ooze  possesses 
other  interest.  Disseminated  through  it  are  minute  crystals 
of  such  minerals  as  escape  through  the  throats  of  volcanoes 
into  the  upper  air.  Here  are  the  dust  particles  which  have  im- 
parted a  ruddy  glow  to  many  a  past  sunset.  Once  the  source 
of  the  roseate  glory  of  the  twilight  hour,  they  lie  now,  in  im- 
penetrable darkness  and  the  repose  of  death.  How  changed 
the  fortune  of  the  little  particle.  It  floated  for  months  in  the 


60  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

upper  thin  air — in  the  film  of  space  which  separates  earth 
from  heaven — borne  hither  by  the  simoon,  thither  by  the  anti- 
trades, hurled  in  the  vortex  of  a  cyclone  and  precipitated  in 
mid-ocean  by  a  down-falling  mass  of  vapor.  Then,  perhaps, 
seized  by  the  waves,  and  rocked  and  beaten  at  the  surface  till 
it  reached  a  zone  of  calm,  it  began  its  silent  descent  into  the 
dark  world  where  it  is  destined  to  rest  undisturbed  for 
centuries. 

Here  too  is  cosmic  dust.  The  seeds  of  worlds  have  been 
sprinkled  through  space,  and  some  of  them  have  been  planted 
in  the  soil  of  this  abyss.  These  minute  globules  of  magnetic 
iron  were  sparks  emitted  from  a  burning  meteor.  The  meteor 
was  a  small  mass  or  particle  of  material  stuff  coursing  swiftly 
through  the  cold  interplanetary  spaces.  It  pierced  the  atmos- 
phere of  the  earth ;  the  friction  resulting  ignited  the  meteor, 
and  for  a  brief  moment  it  painted  a  fiery  streak  in  its  flight, 
when  all  had  been  transformed  to  ashy  particles  which  floated 
in  the  air  like  volcanic  dust,  until  it  found,  at  last,  a 
resting  place  in  the  cold  bed  of  the  Atlantic.  What  a  rever- 
sal of  fortune  was  here !  The  particle  might  have  swept  on 
through  space,  as  many  of  its  companions  did,  until  it  became 
part  of  a  glowing  comet.  Perhaps  it  once  shone  in  a  star — 
now  it  is  dead  for  a  cycle  of  ages.  It  is  an  impressive 
thought  that  here,  in  this  rayless  night,  we  find  the  black 
ruins  of  a  star.  The  realities  of  material  history  exceed  in 
wonder  all  the  fictions  of  imagination. 

We  still  stand  wondering  over  the  scene  which  surrounds 
us.  How  oppressive  is  this  silence.  How  welcome  would  be 
the  cheerful  chirp  of  the  sparrow.  Even  the  piping  of  the 
hated  mosquito  would  break  the  eternal  monotony.  From 
age  to  age  this  reign  of  death  persists.  A  chill  which  is  more 
than  icy,  pierces  us  to  the  marrow.  Sometimes,  as  we  grope 
through  the  Egyptian  gloom,  we  kick  the  bones  of  aquatic  creat- 
ures which  have  perished  in  the  water  above  us.  Often  their 
kind  is  still  in  existence  ;  but  sometimes  their  species  are  long 
extinct.  Here  are  teeth  of  sharks  and  ear-bones  of  whales 
which  have  lain  during  geologic  ages.  Grand  vicissitudes 


A  WALK  UNDER  THE  SEA.  61 

have  passed  by,  which  transformed  the  aspect  of  continents, 
but  these  relics  lay  here  undisturbed — unburied — so  slowly  do 
the  sediments  accumulate. 

But  there  is  indeed  life  here.  Sparse,  quaint  life ;  and 
the  species  are  of  archaic  and  embryonic  forms ;  that  is,  they 
resemble  creatures  which  lived  in  the  earlier  ages  of  the 
world,  or  creatures  which  have  undergone  but  a  part  of  their 
development — crude,  uncouth,  and  alien  to  the  modern  world. 
Here  are  Crinoids,  or  Stone  Lilies,  which,  in  all  other  waters, 
have  perished  from  the  earth — save  one  species  long  known  in 
the  Caribbean  Sea.  They  are  an  antique  type.  But  from 
deep  waters  off  the  coasts  of  Florida  and  Norway,  comes  up, 
with  other  forms,  Rhiz-od-ri-nus,  a  genus  which  disappeared 
from  shallow  seas  unknown  millions  of  years  ago ;  but  here, 
where  nothing  changes,  it  has  perpetuated  its  existence 
through  half  the  history  of  the  world.  Between  death  and 
the  changeless  life  which  here  reigns,  the  difference  is  slight. 

Still  more  startling  in  their  grotesqueness,  are  some  of  the 
fishes  which  lie  here  more  than  half  buried  in  the  mud.  Here 
is  one  fashioned  like  a  scoop-net.  The  long,  slender  body  is 
the  handle,  and  the  net  is  an  enormous  pouch  under  the  chin, 
which  would  take  in  the  whole  of  the  body  three  times  over. 
Another  hangs  like  an  open  wide-mouthed  meal-bag.  In  this 
case,  also,  the  bag  hangs  suspended  from  the  part  where  the 
throat  should  be.  The  diminutive  body  is  noticed  as  an  ap- 
pendage attached  to  the  back  side  of  the  bag.  It  is  known  by 
the  fins.  Four  of  these  bodies  might  be  contained  in  one 
pouch.  A  different,  but  equally  erratic  form  brandishes  an 
attenuated  body  like  a  whip-lash  appended  to  an  enormous 
head,  exposing  an  eye  which  is  nearly  half  its  own  diameter. 
Still  again,  we  note  a  shark-like  form,  with  enormous  gape 
and  horrid  teeth,  having  a  range  of  spines  along  each  side  of 
the  slender  body,  above  and  below,  and,  most  curious  of  all, 
a  long,  thread-like  organ  depending  from  beneath  the  chin, 
with  a  tassel-like  tentacle  bearing  structures  for  feeling,  at  the 
end.  Indeed,  this  reminds  us  of  the  piano  wire  with  dredge 
at  the  end,  which  went  feeling  for  examples  from  this  so-called 


62  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

Jbassalian  fauna,  and  brought  up  the  very  prototype  of  its  own 
mechanism. 

But  see !  somebody  is  here  with  a  lantern.  How  sleepily 
the  light  gleams  in  the  darkness.  There  is  no  fire  in  it. 
Something  it  is.  An  animated  lantern.  A  lantern  without 
a  flame.  It  is  another  strange  fish.  It  is  phosphorescence 
which  gleams  mildly  from  his  shiny  sides.  Still  another  lan- 
tern-bearing fish.  Here  are  luminous  plates  beneath  the  eyes; 
behind  them,  in  a  cavity,  retinal  tissue,  as  if  these  structures 
were  planned  for  eyes ;  but  they  are  not  eyes.  Real  eyes  are 
present.  We  discover,  then,  faint  relief  from  the  palpable 
darkness  in  which  we  have  groped. 

But  our  task  is  done ;  our  curiosity  is  gratified ;  we  have 
glimpsed  the  underworld,  and  have  gathered  observations  on 
which  we  shall  ponder, many  a  day.  Let  us  now,  like  the 
heroes  of  epic  song,  ascend  to  the  light  of  the  upper  world. 


XI.    BY  THE  ROCKY 

STRATA   AND   THEIR  CLASSIFICATION. 

LET  us  walk  in  front  of  the  precipice  which  frowns  along 
the  hill-side  near  the  village  of  Panama,  on  the  west.  It  is 
no  more  instructive  than  a  thousand  other  cliffs,  but  it  may 
be  more  convenient  to  reach.  The  cliff  rises  fifty  or  sixty  feet 
and  presents  a  broken  and  rugged  front.  The  brown  and  yel- 
lowish rock  is  composed  of  fine  silicious  grains,  with  small  im- 
bedded pebbles,  and  thus  answers  the  description  of  a  con- 
glomeritic  sandstone.  The  face  of  the  cliff  shows  several 
yawning  fissures  extending  from  bottom  to  top.  The  winter 
snow  drifts  into  these  in  such  abundance  as  to  remain,  some- 
times, till  midsummer.  One  of  these  chasms  is  known,  there- 
fore, as  the  "  Ice  House."  You  observe  that  this  precipice  is 
composed  of  layers  of  sandstone  piled  one  above  the  other. 
These  are  strata,  and  the  whole  formation  is  stratified.  [Notice 
that  one  of  these  layers  is  a  stratum — not  "a  strata;"  and  we 
must  never  say  "  stratas."]  •  You  observe,  also,  that  some  of 


BY  THE  ROCKY  WALL.  63 

the  strata  are  composed  of  lamince  which  run  obliquely  across 
the  stratum.  This  is  oblique  lamination.  It  is  of  the  same 
nature  as  we  saw  in  the  semi-stratified  drift.  We  concluded 
that  such  mode  of  arrangement  was  caused  by  torrential 
action.  A  similar  explanation  is  allowable  here,  but  the 
water  was  less  turbulent;  it  was,  perhaps,  wave  action  along 
a  beach. 

At  Watkins'  Glen,  at  the  south  end  of  Seneca  Lake,  is  a 
wild,  deep  gorge  cut  by  a  stream  which  rushes  down  from 
the  highland  on  its  way  to  the  lake.  It  is  a  striking  example 
of  erosion,  and  the  materials  carried  away  are  deposited  in 
Seneca  Lake.  The  rocks  here  are  shales.  They  are  thin- 
bedded,  and  soft  enough  to  be  cut  with  a  knife.  We  see  no 
oblique  lamination.  This  is  a  fine  example  of  another  sort  of 
strata.  At  Rochester,  where  the  Central  Railroad  crosses  the 
Genesee  river,  a  few  rods  above  the  Falls,  we  look  down  into 
a  gorge  eroded  by  the  river.  The  high  walls  of  the  gorge  are 
distinctly  stratified ;  and  here  many  of  the  strata  are  com- 
posed of  limestone.  No  traces  of  oblique  lamination  can  be 
found  in  limestones.  If  we  go  to  Portland,  in  Connecticut, 
we  may  look  down  into  wide  and  deep  excavations  in  a  sand- 
stone rock  of  a  brownish  color,  and  very  evenly  bedded. 
Near  Cleveland,  and  at  Berea,  Ohio,  are  extensive  quarries  in  a 
grayish  and  bluish  gray  sort  of  sandstone.  At  Cincinnati, 
back  of  the  city,  we  find  a  steep  slope  formed  of  beds  of  lime- 
stone, shale,  and  clay.  Descending  the  Mississippi  from  St. 
Paul  to  St.  Louis,  we  see  high  cliffs  of  buffish  strata  overlook- 
ing the  river  at  frequent  intervals — now  on  the  west,  now  on 
the  east.  At  St.  Paul  the  rocks  are  distinctly  stratified  lime- 
stone. At  Davenport  and  St.  Louis  we  find  other  kinds  of 
limestones. 

Now,  I  have  directed  your  attention  to  these  few  exam- 
ples out  of  hundreds  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  you  to  un- 
derstand that  everywhere  solid  rocks  underlie  the  Drift;  and 
that  they  are,  at  least  very  generally,  stratified  rocks,  and  are 
composed  chiefly  of  sandstones,  limestones,  and  shales.  Let 
us  consider  how  these  solid  strata  have  been  produced.  None 


64  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

of  these  have  we  ever  seen  making ;  but  I  think  we  have  seen 
a  process  similar  to  rock-making  in  the  beds  of  alluvial  mat- 
ter deposited  by  an  overflowing  stream.  In  traveling  down 
the  lower  Mississippi,  we  can  see  from  the  deck  of  the  steamer 
that  the  material  of  the  alluvial  banks  is  horizontally  strati- 
fied. More  strictly  we  should  say  that  it  is  laminated ;  but 
the  nature  of  the  geological  work  is  the  same  in  either  case. 
Now,  if  those  alluvial  banks  should  become  firmly  consoli- 
dated, they  would  present  the  appearance  of  some  of  the  rocky 
cliffs — those  in  Watkins'  Glen,  for  instance.  You  have  also 
learned  how  large  quantities  of  sediments  borne  down  by 
rivers  are  carried  out  to  sea  many  miles,  and  slowly  deposited 
on  the  ocean's  bottom.  These  deposits  must  necessarily  be  in 
layers,  each  of  which  is  spread  evenly  over  the  bottom.  You 
remember  that  the  distance  to  which  materials  of  a  certain 
degree  of  coarseness  may  be  carried  before  sinking  to  the 
bottom,  depends  on  the  velocity  of  the  motion  of  the  water. 
At  a  certain  place  in  the  sea  the  velocity  is  undoubtedly  more 
rapid  at  one  time  than  another.  The  motion  is  caused  by 
winds,  by  tides,  and  by  currents.  Therefore,  a  coarser  sheet 
of  materials  will  be  laid  down  at  one  time,  and  a  finer  sheet  at 
another.  The  alternations  of  coarser  and  finer  render  the 
bedded  arrangement  conspicuous.  Very  likely  the  colors  of 
the  sediments  will  vary  also  ;  since,  from  one  direction,  they 
may  be  supplied  by  pulverized  limestone,  from  another  by 
pulverized  sandstone,  and  from  another  by  pulverized  shale, 
which  may  be  blue,  red,  or  black.  We  noticed,  too,  in  our 
walk  under  the  sea,  that  sedimentary  materials  are  spread 
over  all  the  slope  of  the  ocean's  floor,  within  fifty  or  a  hun- 
dred miles  of  the  land — often  much  farther,  if  the  shore  is 
"shelving"  or  the  currents  are  favorable. 

These  various  indications  compel  us  to  adopt  the  conclu- 
sion that  water  has  been  the  agent  by  which  the  materials  of 
the  stratified  rocks  have  been  spread  out  in  broad  beds  or 
strata.  But,  though  river  overflows  must  leave  the  sediments 
in  a  bedded  condition,  these  beds  are  not  exactly  like  those 
seen  in  great  formations  of  limestone  and  sandstone.  Kiver 


BY  THE  ROCKY  WALL.  65 

sediments  never  have  so  wide  an  extent  as  the  strata  which 
underlie  a  continent;  nor  are  they  generally  so  evenly  bedded 
as  our  ordinary  rock-strata.  We  must  conclude,  therefore, 
that  the  watery  action  which  arranged  the  sediments  from 
which  our  rock-strata  have  been  formed,  was  a  very  widely 
operating  action.  There  is  no  watery  action  known  sufficiently 
wide-spread  except  the  action  of  the  ocean.  In  the  ocean, 
sediments  are  now  settling  down  in  sheets  a  thousand  miles 
broad.  This  conclusion  is  a  somewhat  startling  one.  It  im- 
plies that,  wherever  rocky  strata  exist,  there  the  ocean's  waters 
have  stood.  Rocky  strata  are  found  hundreds  of  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  ocean,  and  the  fact  seems  incompatible  with 
our  conclusion.  The  average  level  of  all  the  northern  and 
northwestern  states  is  from  six  hundred  to  a  thousand  feet 
above  the  sea.  If  the  underlying  strata  were  deposited  by 
the  ocean,  then  either  the  ocean  has  greatly  subsided  in  later 
times,  or  regions  which  were  once  sea-bottom  have  been  ex- 
tensively uplifted. 

These  subjects  have  attracted  the  attention  of  thoughtful 
observers  for  a  century — indeed,  for  two  or  three  centuries. 
The  question  has  been  much  discussed  ;  but  no  doubt  is  longer 
entertained  that  the  sea  has  covered  all  the  land,  and  that  the 
exposure  of  land  has  resulted  from  upheaval  of  portions  of 
the  ancient  sea-bottom.  Many  confirmations  of  this  view  will 
be  discovered  as  we  proceed.  Thus  by  a  very  simple  and  easy 
process  of  observation  and  reasoning  we  have  reached  a  very 
fundamental  principle  in  geological  science;  and  you  under- 
stand the  evidence  on  which  it  rests. 

Now,  if  all  the  strata  which  underlie  the  land  are  formed 
from  marine  sediments,  the  time  required  for  their  accumula- 
tion must  have  been  enormous.  We  have  made  observations 
along  the  sea-shore,  and  have  formed  some  conception  of  the 
rate  of  sedimentation  over  a  belt  near  the  land.  There  are 
times  when  violent  winds  cause  the  waves  to  wear  down  the 
shore  at  such  a  rate  that  the  sea,  for  a  mile  from  shore,  be- 
comes turbid  with  sediments.  This  has  been  seen  often  at 
Long  Branch  and  Coney  Island.  But  these  periods  are  of 

6 


66  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

short  duration,  and  the  deposits  at  the  distance  ot  ten  miles 
from  land  are  no  longer  conspicuous.  In  the  vicinity  of  coral 
reefs  and  islands  the  attrition  of  the  waves  imparts  a  milky 
complexion  to  the  sea,  especially  during  the  prevalence  of  a 
storm,  and  the  calcareous  particles  are  floated  sometimes  a 
hundred  miles  and  more.  But  it  is  apparent  that,  as  a  rule, 
the  sea  floats  too  little  sediment  to  build  up  a  formation  in  any 
other  than  a  very  gradual  manner.  We  noticed,  also,  in  our 
walk  under  the  sea,  that  the  bottom  sediments  grew  thin  with 
distance  from  the  shore,  and  that  those  of  continental  origin 
ceased  entirely  at  about  two  miles  in  depth.  When  now  we 
remember  that  the  stratified  rocks  are  over  a  hundred  thou- 
sand feet  in  thickness,  we  perceive  immediately  that  the 
process  of  sedimentation  has  been  an  extremely  long  one. 

We  have  then  to  consider  what  changes  may  have  taken 
place  in  the  conditions  of  the  world  during  so  long  a  period. 
Probably  the  nature  of  the  sediments  has  been  changed  from 
time  to  time  by  these  changes  in  the  physical  conditions  of 
the  planet.  We  do  not  wish  to  anticipate  conclusions  to  be 
rested  on  facts  which  have  not  yet  fallen  under  our  observa- 
tion; but  every  body  has  noticed  that  the  surface  of  the  earth 
is  undergoing  changes ;  and  these,  in  thousands  of  years,  must 
aggregate  amounts  which  transform  the  aspects  of  the  planet. 
We  have  lived  to  see  lakelets  filled ;  new  channels  formed  for 
great  rivers ;  ocean  beaches  consumed  by  the  waves ;  hundreds 
of  miles  of  continental  coasts  upraised  or  sunken — as  in  Chili, 
Scandinavia,  and  Greenland ;  new  islands  bursting  into  view ; 
whole  provinces  shattered  by  earthquakes.  Suppose  our  ob- 
servation extended  back  a  million  years,  and  the  tenor  of 
events  had  been  the  same  as  in  modern  times ;  is  it  not  cer- 
tain that  changes  must  have  aggregated  to  such  an  extent  that, 
waking  at  times  to  distinct  consciousness  of  the  greatly 
changed  conditions,  we  should  from  seon  to  aeon  have  felt  ready 
to  declare  a  new  chapter  of  the  world's  history  had  begun  ? 
I  think  so — reasoning  only  from  the  physical  data  which,  so 
far,  have  engaged  our  attention.  But  we  shall  hereafter  make 
the  acquaintance  of  many  other  facts  which  will  confirm  this 


MYSTERIOUS  FORMS  OF  LIFE.  67 

conclusion.  Geologists  have  considered  these  facts,  and  have 
settled  on  the  principle  that  the  long  history  of  sedimenta- 
tion has  been  divided  into  aeons  corresponding  to  successive 
conditions  of  the  world.  Names  have  been  assigned  to  these 
seons.  Thus,  the  first  series  of  sediments  formed  the  strata 
which  lie  deepest  of  all.  They  are  called  Eozoic,  and  the 
aeon  during  which  they  were  accumulating  is  the  Eozoic  jEon. 
We  will  not  pause  here  to  inquire  what  these  sediments  rested 
on — in  other  words,  what  kind  of  rocks  formed  the  bed  of  the 
sea,  at  the  beginning  of  that  ^Eon.  The  ocean  must  have  had 
some  solid  bottom ;  but  of  course,  it  was  a  bottom  formed  when 
there  was  no  ocean;  for  otherwise,  the  Eozoic  strata  would 
not  be  the  bottom  strata. 

The  Eozoic  GREAT  SYSTEM  of  strata  is  at  least  fifty  thou- 
sand feet  thick.  In  the  next  aeon  the  changed  conditions 
gave  origin  to  changed  strata.  They  constitute  a  Great  Sys- 
tem known  as  the  PALAEOZOIC  ;  and  the  time  during  which 
this  system  of  strata  was  accumulated,  is  the  PALEOZOIC 
JEoN.  Next  after  this,  came  the  MESOZOIC  JEow,  during 
which  the  MESOZOIC  GREAT  SYSTEM  of  strata  was  accumu- 
lated. Lastly,  followed  the  C^EN'-O-ZO-IC  jiEoN,  which  contin- 
ues to  the  present.  The  strata  formed  constitute  the  C^NO- 
zoic  GREAT  SYSTEM.  Now,  before  we  take  another  walk, 
these  names  must  be  well  learned. 


MYSTERIOUS   F^ORMS  OR 

FOSSILS. 

EVERY  one  has  noticed  the  curious  forms  found  in  the 
Drift,  which  so  much  resemble  shells  and  corals,  and  buttons 
or  beads.  Often  they  lie  loose  in  the  soil ;  and  often  we  see 
them  imbedded  in  fragments  of  limestones  and  sandstones 
which  are  sometimes  bowlders  transported  from  a  distance,  and 
sometimes  fragments  derived  from  a  neighboring  ledge  or  out- 
crop of  stratified  rocks.  In  the  cliffs  at  Panama  are  occasional 
traces  of  shells,  both  bivalve  and  univalve.  The  latter 


68  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

is  a  little  shell  three-quarters  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  and 
closely  coiled  almost  in  a  plane,  like  a  watch  spring.  I  have 
been  amused  to  hear  some  of  these  forms  like  bivalve  shells 
called  "  petrified  butterflies."  Through  western  New  York, 
Ontario,  Michigan,  Ohio,  and  Indiana  we  find  in  the  Drift 
innumerable  masses  popularly  known  as  "petrified  honey- 
comb," and  "  petrified  wasp-nest."  There  are  also  quantities 
of  little  flat  discs  like  "  buttons,"  each  with  radiating  striae 
or  other  decorations,  and  having  a  hole  in  the  middle,  as  if 
intended  to  be  strung  like  beads.  These  have  sometimes  been 
styled  "  St.  Cuthbert's  beads." 

These  curious  forms,  so  much  like  animal  structures,  were 
wondered  over,  hundreds  of  years  ago.  Very  few  persons 
would  then  entertain  the  suggestion  that  they  are  real  relics 
of  living  things.  They  indeed  bear  the  similitudes  of  marine 
creatures ;  but  such  they  can  not  be,  it  was  argued,  because 
they  lie  hundreds  of  feet  above  the  sea.  Some  of  the  early 
Italian  writers  attributed  them  to  "  the  influence  of  the  stars ;" 
but  Leonardo  da  Vinci  demanded  "  where,  in  the  hills,  are  the 
stars  now  forming  shells  of  distinct  ages  and  species?  And 
how  can  the  stars  explain  the  origin  of  gravel,  occurring  at 
different  heights,  and  composed  of  pebbles  rounded  as  if  by 
the  motion  of  running  water  ?"  Others  attributed  these  forms 
to  the  influence  of  a  "  plastic  force"  in  nature.  Agricola,  a 
German  miner,  conceived  the  notion  that  a  "  certain  fatty 
matter,  set  into  fermentation  by  heat,  gave  birth  to  fossil  or- 
ganic shapes ;"  Fallopio  thought  that  petrified  shells  were  gen- 
erated by  fermentation  in  the  spots  where  they  are  found ;  or 
that  they  had,  in  some  cases,  acquired  their  form  from  the 
"tumultuous  movements  of  terrestrial  exhalations."  Olivi 
thought  fossils  were  mere  "sports  of  nature,"  and  some  in- 
dulged in  the  amusing  fancy  that  they  were  "prototypes"  or 
"  models"  after  which  the  Creator  subsequently  fashioned  the 
living  creatures  of  the  sea ;  and  others  held  that  they  were 
"created"  just  as  we  find  them.  The  last  opinion  I  have 
heard  dogmatically  asserted  in  America ;  and  probably  it  still 
survives. 


MYSTERIOUS  FORMS  OF  LIFE.  69 

When  it  became  impossible  to  resist  the  evidence  that  these 
forms  were  relics  of  the  sea,  the  theory  obtained  a  foothold 
that,  as  the  deluge  of  Noah  had  inundated  the  lands,  these 
forms  must  be  the  relics  of  that  recognized  universal  submer- 
gence. It  required  a  century  and  a  half  to  argue  down  this 
error ;  and,  meantime,  the  geologists  who  did  not  subscribe  to 
it,  fell  under  the  accusation  of  "  disbelieving  the  whole  of  the 
Sacred  writings." 

Thus,  in  our  day,  we  stand  at  the  outcome  of  a  contest  of 
three  hundred  years;  and,  instead  of  battling  against  these 
old  errors,  we  find  ourselves  in  a  position  to  push  on  to  new 
discoveries. 

That  the  sea  has  covered  the  land,  and  that  shore  lines 
have  greatly  changed,  was  taught  by  Pythagoras,  and  after- 
ward by  Strabo  and  Pliny ;  but  these  views  were  almost  for- 
gotten. Many  Arabian  writers  have  left  on  record  views  and 
opinions  on  many  subjects,  quite  in  advance  of  their  European 
contemporaries.  On  this  subject  we  find  an  entertaining  reve- 
lation of  opinion  by  Mohammed  Kazwini,  of'  the  seventh  cen- 
tury of  the  Hegira — the  close  of  the  thirteenth  century  of  our 
era.  It  is  given  as  the  narrative  of  Kidhz,  an  allegorical 
personage: 

"  I  passed  one  day  by  a  very  ancient,  and  wonderfully 
populous  city,  and  asked  one  of  its  inhabitants  how  long  it 
had  been  founded.  'It  is  indeed  a  mighty  city,'  replied  he, 
'  we  know  not  how  long  it  has  existed,  and  our  ancestors  were, 
on  this  subject,  as  ignorant  as  ourselves.'  Five  centuries  after- 
wards, as  I  passed  by  the  same  place,  I  could  not  perceive 
the  slightest  vestige  of  the  city.  I  demanded  of  a  peasant 
who  was  gathering  herbs  upon  its  former  site,  how  long  it  had 
been  destroyed.  'In  sooth  a  strange  question/  replied  he, 
'the  ground  here  has  never  been  different  from  what  you 
now  behold  it.'  '  Was  there  not  of  old,'  said  I,  'a  splendid 
city  here?'  '  Never,'  he  answered,  'so  far  as  we  have  seen, 
and  never  did  our  fathers  speak  to  us  of  any  such.'  On  my 
return  there  five  hundred  years  afterwards,  I  found  the  sea  in 
the  same  place,  and  on  its  shores  were  a  party  of  fishermen, 


70  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

of  whom  I  inquired  how  long  the  land  had  been  covered  by 
the  waters.  *  Is  this  a  question/  said  they,  '  for  a  man  like 
you?  This 'spot  has  always  been  what  it  is  now/  I  again  re- 
turned five  hundred  years  afterwards,  and  the  sea  had  disap- 
peared. I  inquired  of  a  man  who  stood  alone  upon  the  spot, 
how  long  ago  this  change  had  taken  place ;  and  he  gave  me 
the  same  answer  as  I  had  received  before.  Lastly,  on  com- 
ing back  again,  after  an  equal  lapse  of  time,  I  found  there  a 
flourishing  city,  more  populous  and  more  rich  in  beautiful 
buildings  than  the  city  I  had  seen  the  first  time;  and  when  I 
would  fain  have  informed  myself  concerning  its  origin,  the  in- 
habitants answered  me,  '  Its  rise  is  lost  in  remote  antiquity ; 
we  are  ignorant  how  long  it  has  existed,  and  our  fathers  were 
on  this  subject  as  ignorant  as  ourselves.'" 

This  allegory  sets  forth  the  nature  of  the  modern  scientific 
conception  of  changes  in  relative  positions  of  land  and  sea.  It 
must  not,  however,  be  understood  that  continents  ever  occu- 
pied the  sites  of  the  modern  oceans ;  though  these  oceans  once 
extended  over  all  the  lands. 

Thus  these  strata  of  sandstone,  limestone,  and  shale  are  real 
ancient  sea-sediments,  as  we  have  already  argued ;  and  these 
forms  of  life  imbedded  in  the  strata  are  the  relics  of  the  ani- 
mals which  dwelt  in  the  sea  while  the  sediments  were  accu- 
mulating. If  so  long  a  time  as  we  have  concluded  was  re- 
quired for  the  deposition  of  these  materials,  then,  assuredly, 
the  one  hundred  and  fifty  days  of  the  Noachian  inundation 
were  egregiously  inadequate. 

Moreover,  if  we  subject  these  relics  to  critical  examination, 
we  discover  that  their  resemblance  to  living  forms  is  in  fun- 
damental characters  only.  As  to  particular  species,  we  find 
none,  save  in  peculiar  situations,  which  are  identical  with  liv- 
ing species.  We  find  them  less  like  living  species  than  the 
leopard  is  like  the  tiger,  or  the  hen-hawk  like  the  snowy  owl. 
To  maintain,  as  the  old  theologians  did,  that  modern  species 
are  descended  from  species  whose  relics  are  fossilized  in  the 
rocks,  is  to  advocate  a  theory  of  transformation  which  would 
have  been  startling,  if  they  could  have  appreciated  the  facts. 


MYSTEKIOUS  FORMS  OF  LIFE.  71 

Modern  evolution,  which  maintains  such  a  descent,  allows  mil- 
lions of  years  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  transmutations; 
but  the  diluvialists  never  claimed  over  five  thousand  years,  and 
resented  the  offer  of  geology  to  place  more  time  at  their  disposal. 

If  the  relics  buried  in  the  rocks  present  undoubted  diver- 
gences from  living  forms,  it  must  be  because  they  lived  in 
other  ages,  and  under  different  physical  conditions  from  mod- 
ern species.  As  there  is  now,  so  there  must  always  have  been, 
some  co-ordination  or  suitability  between  the  conditions  in 
which  species  lived,  and  the  structures,  instincts,  and  capabili- 
ties of  the  species.  We  are  witnesses  of  this  great  prin- 
ciple— the  adaptation  of  organism  to  environment.  The  Hippo- 
potamus and  the  Elephant,  dwellers  in  warm  climates,  are 
almost  naked.  The  White  Bear  and  the  Arctic  Fox,  dwellers 
in  the  frigid  zone,  are  densely  clad  in  fur.  ,  The  Duck  is  im- 
pelled by  its  instinct  to  the  water;  so  its  feet  are  webbed  to 
adapt  it  to  movement  in  the  water.  These  co-ordinations  of 
structure  to  environment  or  surroundings,  are  everywhere 
seen,  and  possess  extreme  interest.  Let  me  ask  you,  my 
reader,  to  study  out  a  great  many  other  examples. 

Now,  during  the  long  history  of  rock-accumulation,  there 
must  have  taken  place  very  great  changes  in  the  conditions 
of  the  world.  This  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  some 
changes  are  taking  place  before  our  eyes;  and  also  from  the 
fact,  which  we  must  admit,  that  the  ocean  was  once  universal, 
but  is  now  interrupted  by  wide  continental  expanses  which 
deflect  the  winds  and  the  currents  of  the  sea,  and  modify  the 
climates  of  many  regions.  It  might  thus  be  inferred  before- 
hand, that  the  populations  of  the  world  have  shown  a  corre- 
spondence with  the  changing  conditions  of  the  world.  If  the 
physical  world  has  improved — if  it  has  undergone  a  progres- 
sion from  some  cruder  condition  to  the  present,  then  the  pop- 
ulations of  the  world  have  progressively  improved ;  and  we 
shall  find  the  records  of  this  improvement  in  the  fossil  re- 
mains of  those  populations,  as  we  hunt  for  them  in  strata 
farther  and  farther  from  the  surface — that  is,  farther  and  far- 
ther removed  in  their  origin  from  the  present  time. 


72  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

Now,  with  this  preparation  of  mind,  permit  me  to  state 
what  has  been  ascertained  by  studying  the  fossils  imbedded 
in  the  succession  of  strata.  The  deepest  rocks  of  which  we 
have  any  knowledge  are  those  already  named  Eozoic.  They 
are  mostly  hard  and  crystalline — such  as  we  find  in  our  in- 
numerable bowlders.  They  were  stratified  originally,  never- 
theless ;  they  were  marine  sediments,  and  if  any  marine  crea- 
tures lived  at  the  time,  their  relics  were  inclosed  in  the  sedi- 
ments. But  you  see  how  greatly  the  sediments  have  been 
changed  to  make  of  them  granites  arid  gneisses.  If  the 
change  almost  or  completely  obliterated  the  lines  of  bedding, 
it  must  also  have  destroyed  most  traces  of  the  included  fossils. 
As  a  fact,  almost  no  fossil  remains  are  found.  Yet  a  few 
have  been  preserved  to  us.  I  do  not  intend  to  describe  them 
at  present ;  but  you  may  learn  that  they  belong  to  the  very 
lowest  grade  of  animal  life.  The  ages  during  which  they 
existed  may  be  styled  the  REIGN  OF  PROTOZOANS. 

The  strata  next  above,  in  the  lower  part  of  the  Palaeozoic 
Great  System,  abound  in  the  remains  of  marine  animals;  but 
no  traces  of  fishes  or  other  vertebrates  have  been  found. 
This  was  the  REIGN  OF  MARINE  INVERTEBRATES.  Their 
exclusive  remains  extend  through  two  systems,  Cambrian  and 
Silurian.  In  the  next  higher  formations  we  detect  the  bones 
and  teeth  and  armor-plates  of  fishes.  There  were  many  in- 
vertebrates also,  but,  as  the  fishes  were  dominant  in  rank  and 
prowess,  we  designate  this  age  the  REIGN  OF  FISHES.  The 
strata  deposited  during  this  Reign  form  the  Devonian  System. 
Next  came  the  relics  of  the  first  air-breathers  which  ever 
lived.  We  find  their  bones  resembling  those  of  modern  sala- 
manders or  amphibians,  though  often  much  more  powerful. 
This  was  the  REIGN  OF  AMPHIBIANS  ;  and  the  corresponding 
strata  are  the  Carboniferous  System.  The  Cambrian,  Silurian, 
Devonian,  and  Carboniferous  systems  make  up  the  Palaeozoic 
Great  System. 

Next,  as  stated  in  our  last  Talk,  come  the  strata  which 
form  the  Mesozoic  Great  System.  Through  this,  in.  addition 
to  relics  of  amphibians,  fishes,  and  invertebrates,  we  find  for 


MYSTERIOUS  FORMS  OF  LIFE. 


73 


the  first  time  the  bones  and  teeth  of  reptiles.  These  creatures 
offer  extraordinary  interest  for  us,  and  we  shall  take  up  the 
study  of  them  in  due  time.  Their  empire  is  known  as  the 
REIGN  OF  REPTILES.  Following  this  was  the  REIGN  OF  MAM- 
MALS, since  their  bones  are  found  distributed  through  the 
Gznoz&ic  Great  System  of  strata.  Lastly  came  man.  His 
bones  and  works  are  confined  to  the  surface  of  the  earth. 
They  are  not  found  imbedded  in  solid  rocks.  This  last  and 
highest  animal  characterizes  the  REIGN  OF  MAN.  This  is  a 
grand  progression.  These  are  fundamental  conceptions  in 
geological  science.  They  must  be  made  perfectly  familiar  to 
the  student  of  Natural  history. 

As  the  reader  will  desire  frequently  to  refer  to  this  classi- 
fication of  formations  and  of  organic  history  and  geological 
time,  I  insert  the  facts  in  a  Table : 

TABLE  OF  GEOLOGICAL  HISTORY. 


GRKAT  SYSTEMS, 

OK  JBOMfl. 

SYSTEMS,  on. 
AGKS. 

GROUPS,  on  PERIODS. 

ORGANIC  REIGNS. 
(Highest  Fossils.) 

QUATERNARY  

Recent  'i 
Champlain  > 
Glacial  ) 

MAN. 

C^ENOZOIC.... 

TERTIARY  

Pliocene  ) 
Miocene  > 
Eocene  ) 

MAMMALS. 

MESOZOIC  

CRETACEOUS  

Upper  Cretaceous  ' 
Middle  Cretaceous  
Lower  Cretaceous  
f  Wasatch  !• 

REPTILES 

Nevada 

TRIASSIC 

/Star  Peak  

IKoipnto  
f  Permian  

1  UPPER    CARBON- 

•<  Coal  Measures  

LOWER  CARBON- 

( Conglomerate  Measures 
("Carboniferous     Lime- 

AMPHIBIANS 
(Land  Animals). 

IFEROUS  

(Catskill  (Waverly)  
f  Chemung 

I  Hamilton  

FISHES 

PALAEOZOIC.. 

•j  DEVONIAN  

1  Corniferous                     f 

(Marine  Verte- 

I Oriskany  

brates). 

{Helderberg  "I 

SIT-URTAN, 

Salina 

(Upper  Silurian). 

Niagara  

(  Trenton   ' 

CAMBRIAN, 

(Lower  Silurian). 

(Primordial  

EOZOIC  

J  HURONIAN  

((Undivided)  \ 

PROTOZOANS. 

74  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

I  have  included  also  in  the  foregoing  table  a  column  for 
Groups  or  Periods,  because  some  readers  will  be  glad  of  this 
more  detailed  information.  This  is  a  dry  and  unadorned 
skeleton;  but  geology  knows  how  to  clothe  it  in  flesh 
and  beauty. 


XIII.  COURSES  OK  THE  EARTH'S  MASONRY. 

HOW   THE   FORMATIONS   ARE   ARRANGED. 

FIRST,  let  me  explain  what  is  meant  by  a  formation.  It  is 
the  mass  of  rock  resulting  from  some  action  continued  uni- 
formly to  a  conclusion  or  a  pause.  It  was  indicated  in  our 
last  Talk  that  the  conditions  of  the  world  must  have  changed 
from  time  to  time,  and  that  the  nature  of  the  ocean  sediments 
must  have  changed  correspondingly.  The  sediments  laid 
down  during  the  time  in  which  we  conclude  to  say  no  change 
occurred,  are  one  formation.  After  this,  a  slight  change 
would  result  in  another  formation.  But  these  two  formations 
may  much  resemble  each  other,  though  decidedly  different 
from  the  contiguous  formations  above  and  below.  These  two 
formations  together  may,  therefore,  be  said  to  constitute  a 
formation  in  a  larger  sense,  accumulated  during  a 'time  when 
the  main  action  continued  the  same,  though  in  subordinate 
particulars  it  changed.  Formation,  therefore,  is  a  general 
term,  not  always  signifying  the  same  amount  of  accumulation 
nor  even  the  same  range  of  diversity.  We  may  employ  it  in 
various  applications,  and  we  shall  find  it  convenient  to  have 
such  a  term.  A  System  is  a  "formation;"  a  Great  System 
is  a  "formation  ;"  a  coal-bed  is  a  "formation  ;"  a  river-terrace 
is  a  "formation,"  and  a  metallic  vein  is  a  "formation."  I 
must  state,  however,  that  the  term  is  not  employed  by  all 
geologists  in  this  indefinite  sense. 

Glancing  back,  now,  to  the  beginning  of  sedimentary  for- 
mations, we  recognize  two  principles  which  must  be  accepted. 
First,  the  oldest  or  lowest  sedimentary  formation  must  have 
rested  on  a  foundation  not  sedimentary.  The  nature  of  that 
foundation  will  have  some  light  thrown  upon  it  after  we  have 


COURSES  OF  THE  EARTH'S  MASONRY.  75 

proceeded  a  little  farther  with  our  talks.  Secondly,  since  the 
lowest  rocks  of  which  we  can  gain  any  knowledge  are  not 
such  non-sedimentary  foundation,  we  are  unable  to  affirm 
that  we  have  ever  explored  to  the  bottom  of  the  sedimentary 
rocks.  There  may  have  been  underneath,  originally,  a  vast 
additional  amount  of  strata.  We  will  study  the  oldest  strata 
accessible  to  us,  and  observe  how  they  lie  in  respect  to  the 
later  strata. 

If  we  travel  over  the  surface  of  the  country,  we  find  it 
generally  overspread  by  loose  materials  which,  in  the  northern 
states  are  the  so-called  Drift.  But  here  and  there  the  bed- 
rocks appear  at  the  surface.  That  is,  they  outcrop.  The  na- 
ture of  the  outcropping  rocks  is  various.  Sometimes  they 
are  limestone,  sometimes  sandstone,  sometimes  shale,  some- 
times granite  or  some  other  sort  of  crystalline  rocks.  It  seems 
at  first,  as  if  every  thing  were  in  a  state  of  confusion.  But 
let  us  be  patient ;  we  shall  discover  order.  We  shall  perceive 
that  one  sort  of  stratum  passes  under  another,  and  perhaps  at 
the  distance  of  some  miles,  comes  to  the  surface  again.  We 
shall  notice  that  a  different  stratum  or  formation  passes  under 
this,  and  then  perhaps  comes  to  the  surface  again  at  some 
point  still  more  distant — as  if  they  were  three  wooden  dishes 
in  a  pile — J.,  the  largest;  B,  the  next  in  size,  and  0,  the 
smallest.  B  goes  down  under  0,  and  comes  up  beyond  C. 
A  goes  down  under  B,  and  comes  up  beyond  B,  on  the  op- 
posite side.  Many  times  numerous  successive  strata  are  nested 
in  each  other  precisely  in  this  fashion.  The  lower  peninsular 
of  Michigan  is  a  good  example.  If  you  refer  to  the  Table  on 
page  73  you  will  see  that  the  Coal  Measures  are  underlaid 
by  the  Conglomerate  Measures,  the  Carboniferous  Limestone, 
the  Catskill  Group,  the  Chemung  Group,  the  Hamilton 
Group,  and  the  Corniferous  Group.  Each  of  these  formations 
underlies  the  peninsula  in  the  form  of  a  broad,  shallow  dish. 
The  Corniferous  Group  is  at  the  bottom.  Its  margin  comes 
to  the  surface  in  southern  Michigan.  You  see  it  in  the  lime- 
stone at  Monroe  and  throughout  that  region.  Thence  it 
passes  under  the  state  and  comes  to  the  surface  again  at  Old 


76  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

Mackinac  and  Cheboygan.  Mackinac  Island,  which  we  have 
talked  about,  is  of  Corniferous  Limestone.  The  eastern  mar- 
gin of  this  dish  is  at  London,  in  Ontario,  and  the  western  is 
under  Lake  Michigan.  A  little  nearer  the  center  of  the  state 
we  find  the  margin  of  the  next  overlying  group — the  Hamil- 
ton. So  the  other  groups  follow  as  the  successively  smaller 
dishes.  The  top  dish  consists  of  the  Coal  Measures.  It  is  a 
pretty  flat  dish,  however,  since  the  middle  is  about  as  high 
as  the  margin. 

That  is  one  kind  of  arrangement  which  we  observe.  More 
frequently,  however,  the  arrangement  is  more  like  a  pile  of 
long,  broad,  thin  troughs  without  ends.  In  this  case  you  per- 
ceive that  each  formation  goes  down  on  one  side  and  comes 
up  on  the  opposite  side.  But  at  the  ends,  they  may  not  ap- 
pear at  the  surface.  Such  an  arrangement  of  strata  is 
called  synclinal,  and  the  line  along  the  middle  is  the 
synclinal  axis. 

Still  another  arrangement  is  quite  as  common.  Suppose 
we  turn  our  nest  of  wooden  dishes  upside  down,  and  suppose 
that  is  their  natural  position.  They  represent  so  many  for- 
mations still.  Then  suppose  we  saw  through  the  nest  hori- 
zontally in  such  place  as  to  saw  off  all  the  bottoms  except  that 
of  the  smallest  dish.  It  is  done.  Now  you  see  the  edges  of 
the  formations  presenting  themselves  in  concentric  outcrops. 
Plant  yourself  on  the  inner  or  middle  formation.  Notice  that 
this  now  underlies  all  the  others.  This  also,  dips  toward  all 
the  others,  and  passes  under  them  out  of  sight.  Then  fix 
your  attention  on  the  outcrop  of  the  next  dish.  Notice  that 
this  dips  away  from  the  first  one — the  older  one,  first  laid 
down ;  and  that  it  dips  toward  the  newer  or  overlying  forma- 
tions. And  so  to  the  uppermost  or  newest — each  newer  dip- 
ping away  from  all  the  older. 

This  arrangement  of  strata  is  common.  The  city  of  Cin- 
cinnati stands  on  an  upward  bulge  of  Cambrian  rocks.  All 
around,  at  the  distance  of  some  miles,  may  be  seen  the 
outcropping  edge  of  the  Silurian  System.  The  Silurian  strata 
overlie  the  Cambrian,  as  shown  in  the  Table,  page  73,  and 


COURSES  OF  THE  EARTH'S  MASONRY.  77 

dip  away  from  them.  Next,  a  few  miles  farther  from  Cin- 
cinnati, on  all  sides,  we  come  to  the  Devonian  strata;  and 
next,  the  Lower  Carboniferous. 

Very  frequently  the  dip  is  in  opposite  directions  along  a 
line,  as  if  an  inverted  nest  of  troughs  had  had  their  bottoms 
sawed  off.  If  you  turn  an  open  book  so  that  it  rests  on  the 
table  with  the  back  up,  then  the  leaves  are  strata ;  their  in- 
clination to  the  table  is  the  dip,  and  the  two  inclinations  in 
opposite  directions  form  an  anticlinal  structure.  If  you  keep 
the  leaves  in  the  same  position  and  turn  the  back  of  the  book 
down,  the  structure  is  synclinal.  It  is  rather  necessary  to  un- 
derstand these  terms,  because  we  meet  with  such  structures  so 
frequently,  and  shall  have  to  talk  about  them. 

Very  commonly,  the  dishes  and  troughs  of  which  I  am 
speaking  are  irregular.  A  trough,  whether  inverted  or  not, 
may  bend,  and  change  the  course  of  its  axis.  That  makes  it 
more  difficult  to  follow,  especially  as  -nearly  all  the  rock  sur- 
faces are  concealed  by  Drift.  Sometimes  the  trough  is  de- 
pressed at  one  end;  sometimes  at  both  ends;  sometimes  in  the 
middle.  Again,  there  may  be  an  uplifting  of  one  or  both 
ends,  or  of  the  middle.  The  determination  of  the  order  of 
the  strata  is  often  much  complicated  by  those  erosions  of  which 
we  have  talked.  Suppose,  for  instance,  we  have  an  anticlinal 
axis,  and  suppose  the  surface  of  the  earth  horizontal.  Then 
if  a  deep  broad  valley  were  worn  across  and  through  the  an- 
ticlinal series  of  strata,  what  sort  of  curves  would  be  pre- 
sented by  the  cut  edges  of  the  formations?  Can  you  think 
them  out?  But  suppose  the  anticlinal  strata  are  elevated  in 
a  long  ridge  like  a  mountain,  and  a  deep  valley  should  be 
cut  down  one  side,  can  you  picture  to  your  imagination  the 
lines  which  the  cut  edges  of  the  strata  would  trace  ?  I  think 
it  would  be  well  for  the  ingenious  reader  to  contrive  something 
to  serve  as  a  model  to  illustrate  these  complicated  arrange- 
ments. A  nest  of  wooden  or  paper  dishes  might  be  glued 
together  and  sawed  and  grooved  and  carved  into  shapes 
imitating  the  configuration  of  the  earth's  surface.  Even 
in  level  and  undisturbed  strata  erosions  have  created  some 


78  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

complications.  These  are  easily  illustrated.  Glue  together 
thin  board-like  pieces  of  pine,  cherry,  oak,  beech,  mahogany, 
apple  or  other  woods,  to  represent  strata.  Then  cut  the  pile 
in  various  slopes  and  curves,  and  notice  where  the  various 
sorts  of  wood  outcrop.  This  represents  precisely  what  we  ob- 
serve in  the  actual  arrangements  of  outcrops.  But  the  Drift 
covers  so  much  that  we  often  experience  difficulties  in  finding 
where  the  rocky  outcrops  lie. 

The  complications  in  the  structural  arrangements  of  the 
rocks  are  still  greater.  Anticlinal  dips  pass  off  each  side  into 
level  strata  or  synclinal  arrangements.  A  synclinal  arrange- 
ment is  often  along  the  highest  region,  instead  of  the  lowest, 
as  one  would  expect.  On  the  contrary,  an  anticlinal  arrange- 
ment is  often  along  the  bottom  and  sides  of  a  valley,  instead 
of  running  along  the  crest  of  a  mountain,  as  one  might  expect. 
These  things  result  from  extensive  erosions.  Again,  the  dips 
sometimes  become  very  great — even -vertical — and  there  may 
be  difficulty  in  deciding  which  is  the  upper  side  of  a  stratum. 
Worse  than  this,  we  sometimes  find  a  pile  of  strata  tilted  so 
far  as  to  seem  to  dip  in  the  opposite  direction.  Then  the 
older  and  lower  strata  in  fact  lie  uppermost,  and  seem  to  be 
newer.  This  inversion  of  strata  sometimes  occurs  along  the 
Appalachians. 

But  there  are  some  compensations  for  all  this  confusion. 
The  Eozoic,  or  crystalline  rocks  are  lowest  of  all  in  position, 
and  when  they  are  in  sight  they  form  a  landmark  from  which 
we  can  estimate  upward.  Remember,  however,  that  the  low- 
est rocks — lowest  in  geological  position — are  often  highest  in 
topographical  position.  They  are  often  at  the  summits  of 
mountains,  as  in  the  Alps  and  the  Rocky  Mountains.  The 
newer  strata  then  slope  down  in  order  along  each  side  of  the 
mountain,  and  pass  under  the  plain. 

In  the  next  place,  strata  are  to  some  extent,  arranged  in 
long  folds,  which  here  rise  in  a  ridge,  and  there  disappear  un- 
der a  synclinal.  Such  long  drawn  forms  are  found  along  the 
Laurentian  hills  in  Canada,  and  along  the  Appalachians. 
Here  we  catch  sight  of  a  general  method  in  rock  arrangements. 


A  WALK  IN  THE  YELLOWSTONE  PARK.          79 

Still  again,  the  newest  strata  lie  along  the  Sea  and  Gulf 
shores,  and  dip  down  under  the  water.  These  sheets  of  sedi- 
ments are  undisturbed.  Beneath  these  are  generally  older 
strata  which  have  a  corresponding  dip.  These  seaward  dip- 
ping strata  are  Csenozoic  and  Mesozoic.  When  we  descend  to 
the  Palaeozoic  strata  we  often  find  them  considerably  folded 
and  irregular. 

In  general,  the  present  positions  of  the  strata  may  be  ex- 
plained as  if  they  had  been  produced  thus : — First,  the  uni- 
versal ocean  deposited  sediments  which  hardened  into  Eozoic 
rocks  which  universally  underlie.  Then  some  portion  of  the 
bottom  was  uplifted  to  daylight,  and  the  sediments  of  the  next, 
or  Palaeozoic,  jEon  were  not  universal.  Next  the  uplifted 
regions  were  further  uplifted,  and  some  of  the  Palaeozoic  sedi- 
ments appeared  along  the  margins  of  the  Eozoic.  Then  fol- 
lowed Mesozoic  sedimentation,  another  uplift  of  the  same 
regions ;  then  Caenozoic  sedimentation  and  other  uplifts. 
Meanwhile  the  destructive  work  of  erosion  was  in  progress,  and 
the  original  shapes  of  the  uplifted  strata,  already  disguised  by 
many  movements,  were  further  obscured  by  the  wearing  down 
of  extensive  formations,  and  the  obliteration  of  some.  But 
of  all  this  we  shall  catch  more  satisfactory  glimpses  hereafter. 


.    A. 

THERMAL    WATERS. 

IN  the  north-western  corner  of  the  territory  of  Wyoming 
is  a  tract  sixty-five  miles  long  and  fifty-five  miles  broad  which 
has  been  reserved  by  act  of  Congress  (March  1,  1872)  as  a 
national  park  or  reservation  "dedicated  and  set  apart  as  a 
public  park  or  pleasuring  ground  for  the  benefit  and  enjoy- 
ment of  the  people."  This  was  done  on  the  recommendation 
of  the  national  geologist,  Dr.  F.  V.  Hayden.  The  tract  on 
the  north  extends  about  two  miles  into  the  territory  of  Mon- 
tana, and  on  the  west,  two  and  a  half  miles  into  Montana  and 
Idaho.  For  natural  scenery  it  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable 


80  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

regions  on  the  surface  of  the  earth.  It  lies  on  the  great  con- 
tinental divide  at  a  mean  altitude  of  six  thousand  feet,  and 
includes  mountain  summits  rising  to  ten  and  twelve  thousand 
feet — about  twice  the  altitude  of  Mount  Washington,  and 
covered,  of  course,  with  perpetual  snow.  Within  the  tract  is 
the  Yellowstone  Lake,  which  lies  7,427  feet  above  sea-level. 
Two  or  three  miles  west  of  this  is  Two  Ocean  Pond,  lying  on 
the  water-shed.  On  the  east,  the  drainage  from  this  pond 
passes  into  the  Yellowstone  Lake  and  Kiver,  and  thence  into 
the  Missouri  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  On  the  west,  the  same 
pond  drains  into  Shoshone  Lake,  the  Snake  and  Columbia 
rivers  and  the  Pacific  Ocean.  The  Yellowstone  and  Madison 
are  the  chief  rivers  of  the  reservation,  the  first  flowing  west  to 
form  the  Missouri,  and  the  other  north  to  a  navigable  tribu- 
tary of  the  same.  The  upper  Madison  is  also  known  as  the 
Firehole  river.  Gardiner's  river  is  an  important  tributary  of 
the  Yellowstone,  flowing  north,  and  making  its  junction  on  the 
northern  boundary  of  the  Park.  Some  of  the  loftiest  moun- 
tains of  the  interior  overlook  the  Park  on  all  sides.  On  the 
east,  are  the  two  ranges  of  the  Shoshone  Sierra ;  on  the  wrest, 
the  Gallatin  Range ;  on  the  south,  the  Red  Mountain  Range 
and  the  Pitchstone  Plateau;  on  the  north,  a  belt  of  "peaks" 
rising  ten  and  eleven  thousand  feet  high.  These  mountains, 
like  nearly  the  whole  surface  of  the  Park,  are  composed  of 
volcanic  rocks.  The  Yellowstone,  after  passing  two  falls,  re- 
spectively 162  and  350  feet,  flows  through  a  caiion  nine  miles 
long,  which  has  been  thus  described: 

"  For  a  mile  away,  the  sides  are  formed  of  slopes  from 
which  rise  vast  battlements,  turrets,  pinnacles,  alone  or  in 
clusters,  of  tall  conical  spires;  some  are  of  basalt,  some  of 
limestone  [this  is  probably  an  error] ;  they  rise  through  slopes 
part  clay  and  part  broken  silicates  and  limestone.  On  this 
mass  of  material  nature  has  lavished  her  wealth  of  colors  with 
a  spendthrift  hand.  The  taller  rocks  of  ruddy  browns  or 
Pompeian  red  melt  away  in  the  debris  from  which  they  spring, 
to  rich  yellows,  fading  below,  to  cool  grays  in  exquisite  grada- 
tion. Here  and  there  are  rocks  of  a  red  like  claret  lees; 


A  WALK  IN  THE  YELLOWSTONE  PAEK.         81 

others  have  a  basis  of  rich  ochre,  with  the  projections  of 
umber  brown.  In  places,  the  reds  are  nearly  of  a  dark 
scarlet.  Here  the  rocks  are  of  a  lovely  French  gray ;  there, 
of  a  delicate  fawn  tint,  rising  above  to  saffron,  and  melting  to 
snow-white  below ;  while  in  places,  patches  of  vivid  green, 
orange  or  black  mark  the  masses  of  moss  and  lichen  fed  by 
the  abundant  spray,  and  forced  into  luxury  of  growth  by  the 
warm  streams  from  the  numberless  springs  issuing  from  the 
walls  of  the  canon." — Lippincott's  Magazine,  June,  1880,  p.  699. 

It  is  not  for  the  scenery — not  even  for  the  geology  of  the 
Park,  that  I  have  led  you  hither.  What  I  have  noted  will 
serve  to  illustrate  principles  to  be  stated  hereafter.  I  wish 
your  imaginations  to  be  impressed  by  the  wonderful  groups 
of  geysers  and  hot  springs  scattered  through  the  Park.  I  wish 
you  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  some  facts  from  which  we 
may  derive  important  inferences  bearing  on  internal  heat.  Mr. 
A.  C.  Peale,  one  of  the  United  States  geologists,  has  described 
in  the  Park  2,195  warm  springs,  and  expresses  the  belief  that 
three  thousand  exist.  He  has  also  named  and  described 
seventy-one  geysers.  A  geyser  is  a  spring  which  periodically 
throws  up  hot  water  to  some  distance  above  the  level  of  the 
ground. 

Let  us  take  a  particular  geyser  and  note  its  situation  and 
the  phenomena  connected  with  its  eruptions.  "Old  Faithful" 
geyser  is  one  of  a  group  in  the  upper  part  of  the  valley  of 
Firehole  river.  The  external  formation  is  a  mound  or  table 
of  geyserite  or  silicious  sinter — a  whitish  mineral  composed 
chiefly  of  silica  and  water,  and  deposited  from  the  waters  of 
the  geysers.  The  mound  is  one  hundred  and  forty-five  feet 
by  two  hundred  and  fifteen  at  base,  and  twenty  by  fifty-four 
feet  at  top.  It  rises  about  twelve  feet  above  the  surrounding 
level,  and  is  composed  of  layers  of  deposit  arranged  in  a  suc- 
cession of  steps  that  are  made  up  of  small  basins.  Near  the 
top  these  basins  are  beautiful,  broad,  shallow  pools,  with  pink, 
cream,  white,  brown  and  gray  bottoms,  in  which  the  deep 
azure-tinted  water  stands  after  the  eruptions.  The  "chimney" 
or  "  crater"  is  the  top  of  a  "  basin"  five  feet  deep,  at  the  bot- 


82  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

torn  of  which  is  an  irregular  orifice,  the  head  of  the  geyser 
"  tube."  The  eruption  begins  with  some  preliminary  splashes 
or  spurts — from  three  to  a  dozen  or  more — which  appear  like 
abortive  attempts  at  eruption.  These  grow  more  powerful  for 
about  four  minutes  when  jets  in  rapid  succession  escape  with 
a  roar,  and  soon  attain  the  maximum  height.  In  a  few  sec- 
onds later  the  column  subsides  with  occasional  vigorous  spurts. 
The  water  eruption  is  followed  by  steam  which  escapes  gently 
and  soon  dies  away,  leaving  the  crater  empty.  The  water  is 
thrown  to  a  maximum  height  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet. 

General  Sherman  thus  describes  "Old  Faithful:"  "We 
saw  Old  Faithful  perform  at  intervals  of  sixty-two  to  eighty 
minutes.  So  regular  are  its  periods  of  activity  that  we  could 
foretell  its  movements  within  a  few  minutes.  Sometimes  we 
stood  near  enough  to  feel  the  hot  spray,  and  at  others,  we  sat 
at  our  camp,  three  hundred  yards  away.  Each  eruption  was 
similar,  preceded  by  about  five  minutes  of  sputtering,  and  then 
would  arise  a  column  of  hot  water,  steaming  and  smoking,  to 
the  height  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  or  one  hundred  and 
thirty  feet,  the  steam  going  a  hundred  or  more  feet  higher, 
according  to  the  state  of  the  wind.  The  whole  performance 
lasts  about  five  minutes,  when  the  column  of  water  gradually 
sinks,  and  the  spring  resumes  its  normal  state  of  rest." — Re- 
ports of  Inspections,  1877,  p.  36. 

The  "Giantess"  geyser,  belonging  also,  to  a  group  on  the 
upper  Firehole,  has  an  inconspicuous  crater,  but  is  charac- 
terized by  magnificent  eruptions.  Mr.  N.  P.  Langford  writes 
of  it:  "No  water  could  be  discovered,  but  we  could  dis- 
tinctly hear  it  gurgling  and  boiling  at  a  great  distance  below. 
Suddenly  it  began  to  rise,  boiling  and  spluttering,  and  send- 
ing out  huge  masses  of  steam,  causing  a  general  stampede  of 
our  company.  When  within  about  forty  feet  of  the  surface, 
it  became  stationary,  and  we  returned  to  look  down  upon  it. 
It  was  foaming  and  surging  at  a  terrible  rate,  occasionally 
emitting  small  jets  of  hot  water  nearly  to  the  mouth  of  the 
orifice.  All  at  once  it  seemed  seized  with  a  fearful  spasm,  and 
rose  with  incredible  rapidity,  hardly  affording  us  time  to  flee 


A  WALK  IN  THE  YELLOWSTONE  PARK.         83 

to  a  safe  distance,  when  it  burst  from  the  orifice  with  terrific 
momentum,  rising  in  a  column  the  full  size  of  this  immense 
aperture,  to  the  height  of  sixty  feet;  and  through  and  out  of 
the  apex  of  this  vast  aqueous  mass  five  or  six  smaller  jets  or 
round  columns  of  water,  varying  from  six  to  fifteen  inches  in 
diameter,  were  projected  to  the  marvelous  height  of  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  feet."  This  eruption  continued  twenty  min- 
utes; and  two  eruptions  occurred  during  twenty-four  hours. 

The  numerous  other  geysers  in  their  action  present  phe- 
nomena essentially  similar  to  these.  The  mineral  deposit  gen- 
erally forms  a  mound,  cone,  or  nozzle,  through  which  the 
water  escapes.  This  varies  greatly  in  diameter  and  height. 
In  the  White  Dome  and  White  Pyramid  geysers  it  is  twenty- 
five  feet  high.  In  the  Giant  geyser  the  cone  is  ten  feet  high 
and  rests  on  a  platform  four  feet  high  and  over  three  hundred 
feet  in  diameter.  The  material  is  generally  geyserite ;  but  a 
few  geysers  and  springs  exist  in  which  it  is  travertin  or  cal- 
careous tufa,  consisting  of  calcium  carbonate.  The  Soda 
Butte,  on  the  east  of  the  Yellowstone,  is  a  conical  mound 
twenty  feet  high,  which  though  now  closed  at  the  top,  was 
formerly  an  active  geyser.  It  is  composed  of  travertin,  and 
Soda  Butte  is  a  misnomer. 

The  thermal  springs  of  the  Park  have  built  up  mineral  de- 
posits of  extremely  curious  and  interesting  character.  The 
Mammoth  Hot  Springs,  on  Gardiner's  river,  three  miles  from 
its  mouth,  situated  on  a  series  of  terraces,  present  a  fine  de- 
velopment of  a  style  of  formation  characteristic  of  hot  springs 
in  various  parts  of  the  world.  The  waters  issue  at  many  dif- 
ferent levels  along  a  slope,  and  the  calcareous  deposit  takes 
the  form  of  a  pile  of  tubs  so  arranged  that  the  overflow  from 
one  at  a  higher  level  falls  into  another  at  a  lower  level.  The 
tubs  are  of  various  depths  and  diameters,  and  sometimes  dis- 
play lively  shades  of  color — greenish,  reddish,  and  yellowish. 
There  are  several  terraces  of  deposits  from  which  the  water 
has  disappeared ;  and  the  evidence  is,  generally,  that  the  ther- 
mal energy  of  the  region  is  diminishing. 

The  phenomena  of  hot  springs  are  well  known  in  various 


84  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

parts  of  the  world.  Some  of  those  of  New  Zealand  present 
close  resemblances  to  the  Mammoth  Hot  Springs  of  Gardiner's 
river.  Geysers  occur  also,  in  New  Zealand ;  but  the  most 
celebrated  is  the  Great  Geyser  of  Iceland.  To  impart  a  con- 
ception of  its  behavior  in  eruption,  the  following  description 
by  S.  Baring  Gould  is  cited: — "Five  strokes  under  ground 
were  the  signal,  then  an  overflow,  wetting  every  side  of  the 
mound.  Presently  a  dome  of  water  rose  in  the  centre  of  the 
basin  and  fell  again,  immediately  to  be  followed  by  a  fresh 
bell,  which  sprang  into  the  air  full  forty  feet  high,  accompa- 
nied by  a  roaring  burst  of  steam.  Instantly,  the  fountain 
began  to  play  with  the  utmost  violence ;  a  column  rushed  up 
to  the  height  of  ninety  or  one  hundred  feet,  against  the  gray 
night  sky,  with  mighty  volume  of  white  steam  cloud  rolling 
about  it,  and  swept  off  by  the  breeze  to  fall  in  torrents  of  hot 
rain.  Jets  and  lines  of  water  tore  their  "way  through  the 
cloud,  or  leaped  high  above  its  domed  mass.  The  earth 
trembled  and  throbbed  during  the  explosion,  then  the  column 
sank,  started  up  again,  dropped  once  more,  and  seemed  to  be 
sucked  back  into  the  earth." — Pen  and  Pencil  Sketches  of  Faroe 
and  Iceland. 

No  one  can  contemplate  the  phenomena  of  a  geyser  or  hot 
spring  without  feeling  a  conviction  that  heat  is  the  essential 
condition.  Somewhere  within  the  earth  is  a  repository  of  heat 
sufficient  to  warm,  or  even  to  boil,  the  water  which  rises  to 
the  surface.  Strata  whose  outcropping  edges  appear  at  the 
surface,  receive  rain-water  and  convey  it  along  the  dip  to  un- 
known depths.  In  the  geyser,  some  concurrent  conditions 
must  exist.  I*  is  admitted  that  the  water  rises  through  a 
tube,  and  that  in  its  lower  part  a  temperature  exists  sufficient 
to  boil  water  under  the  pressure  there  existing.  But  details 
of  the  mechanism  are  not  unanimously  agreed  upon.  They 
are  probably  somewhat  as  follows : — Water  accumulates  in  the 
geyser  pipe  upon  the  steam  formed  in  the  lower  part  by  the 
bottom  temperature.  The  steam,  for  a  time,  is  subjected  to 
compression,  and  the  compression  increases  with  the  continued 
development  of  steam  and  accumulation  of  water.  Finally, 


AMONG  THE  VOLCANOES.  85 

the  elastic  force  becomes  sufficient  to  lift  the  column  of  water. 
The  commencement  of  escape  now  diminishes  pressure,  and  a 
large  volume  of  steam  is  instantly  formed,  which  causes  the 
violent  eruption.  The  heavy  thumps  sometimes  heard  before 
and  during  the  action  are  due  to  collapses  of  steam  in  contact 
with  the  water,  and  are  strictly  the  same  in  principle  as  the 
sharp  detonations  frequently  heard  in  the  steam-pipes  employed 
for  warming  buildings. 


XV.    AJVEONQ  THE 

INDICATIONS     OF    INTEKNAL    FIRES. 

VESUVIUS  and  ^Etna  are  the  two  volcanoes  familiarly  known 
to  classical  antiquity.  They  offer  for  our  observation  nearly 
all  the  characters  with  which  the  geological  reader  and  student 
should  become  acquainted  in  prosecuting  his  inquiries  into  the 
present  and  past  temperatures  of  the  earth.  Let  us  make  the 
ascent  of  Vesuvius,  taking  the  usual  route  from  Naples. 
Driving  a  couple  of  hours  down  the  coast  to  Resi'na,  on  the 
site  of  the  ancient  Herculaneum,  we  begin  the  ascent  either 
on  foot  or  on  mule  or  horse  back.  For  thirty  minutes  we  fol- 
low a  rough  road  through  vineyards.  The  road  then  turns  to 
the  north  and  we  enjoy  a  lovely  view  of  the  landscape  and  the 
bay.  Here  stretch  two  dark  streams  of  cold  lava — presenting 
somewhat  the  aspect  of  enormous  beds  of  enormous  cinders — 
fibrous  and  twisted  and  waxy.  They  are  the  lava  streams  of 
1858  and  1868.  Next  appears  the  huge  lava  wall  of  1858. 
In  two  hours  from  Resin  a,  we  reach  the  Observatory,  2,218 
feet  above  sea-level,  erected  in  1844  for  meteorological  and 
seismic  observations.  Here  Professor  Palmieri,  the  celebrated 
vulcanologist,  is  engaged  in  making  the  most  minute  studies 
of  the  incidents  in  the  history  of  the  mountain.  From  this 
station  and  the  "Hermitage"  just  below,  where  the  traveler 
procures  refreshments,  the  view  over  the  black  and  herbless 
lava  slope  is  desolate  beyond  description.  Soon  the  road  be- 
comes impracticable  for  quadrupeds.  Crossing  the  lava  flood 
of  1871,  we  now  reach  the  Atrio  del  Cavallo,  at  the  foot  of 


86  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

the  cone.  This  is  the  valley  which  separates  the  highest  and 
principal  summit  of  the  mountain  from  Monte  Somma,  a  frag- 
ment of  an  ancient  crater  of  much  larger  size  than  the  modern 
one.  The  height  of  Vesuvius  varies  from  3,900  to  4,300  feet. 
Monte  Somma  stands  3,642  feet.  The  slope  of  the  mountain 
near  the  base  is  10°,  while  the  active  cone  has  a  gradient  of 
29°  to  30°.  Monte  Somma  rises  almost  perpendicularly  from 
the  Atrio  del  Cavallo,  while  on  the  opposite  side,  it  slopes  to 
the  plain  at  an  angle  of  three  degrees. 

The  entire  mountain,  so  far  as  can  be  seen,  is  a  vast  pile 
of  lava,  lapilli  (stones)  sand  and  ashes  (powder-like  lava) 
resulting  from  a  long  succession  of  eruptions.  The  molten 
mineral  matter  thrown  out  is  lava.  It  escapes  from  the  regu- 
lar crater  or  bursts  out  through  some  new  fissure  near  the 
summit,  around  which  the  erupted  materials  may  accumulate 
and  form  a  subsidiary  crater.  The  molten  lava  has  a  tem- 
perature above  2000°  Fah.  Often  vapor  of  water  escapes  with 
the  lava,  and  throws  the  molten  mineral  up  with  such  violence 
as  to  break  it  into  fragments,  the  larger  of  which  are  known 
as  lapilli  and  scoriae,  while  the  minuter  fragments  constitute 
volcanic  sand  and  ashes.  The  vapors  rise  to  a  height  of  about 
ten  thousand  feet,  and  spread  over  the  mountain  like  a  vast 
umbrella  or  Cedar  of  Lebanon.  Indeed,  the  height  sometimes 
attained  by  this  enormous  canopy  of  vapor  and  ashes  has  been 
shown  by  measurements  to  reach  twenty-three  thousand  to 
twenty-six  thousand  feet.  Enormous  quantities  of  ashes  borne 
upward  with  the  vapor,  give  the  cloud  a  dark  and  angry 
appearance,  and  its  frowning  aspect  is  confirmed  by  the  flashes 
of  lightnings  which  dart  through  it.  By  night  the  vivid  re- 
flection of  the  light  thrown  upward  from  the  crater  gives  the 
appearance  of  terrific  flames  roaring  from  the  summit  of  a 
burning  mountain.  But  no  proper  combustion  exists.  Often 
the  condensation  of  the  vapor  results  in  rain  which  descends 
in  a  torrent.  The  ashes  mingled  with  water  convert  the  storm 
into  a  deluge  of  mud.  This  rushes  down  the  mountain  with 
destructive  effects,  and  in  several  instances,  whole  villages  and 
even  cities  have  been  buried  in  mud. 


AMONG  THE  VOLCANOES.  87 

A  moderate  disturbance  of  the  mountain  is  characterized 
by  the  ejection  of  vapors  and  stones,  accompanied  by  a  roar, 
resembling  that  of  distant  artillery.  More  serious  eruptions 
are  accompanied  by  loud  subterranean  noises,  earthquakes, 
and  vivid  electric  phenomena. 

History  records  a  large  number  of  Vesuvian  eruptions. 
According  to  Strabo,  Vesuvius  was  once  covered  by  beautiful 
meadows,  except  over  the  summit,  which  was  level  and  sterile. 
"It  has"  he  says,  "an  appearance  like  ashes,  and  shows  rug- 
ged rocks  of  sooty  consistency  and  color,  as  if  they  had  been 
consumed  by  fire."  At  the  same  period  the  theater  of  vol- 
canic activity  was  a  few  miles  toward  the  west.  Ischia,  Pro- 
cida,  the  Solfatara  and  the  Monte  Nuovo  were  then  active 
craters.  About  A.  D.  63,  the  volcanic  nature  of  Vesuvius 
manifested  itself;  and  in  79  occurred  the  terrific  eruption 
which  overwhelmed  Pompeii,  Herculaneum,  Stabise,  and  other 
villages  in  a  deluge  of  ashes  and  mud.  In  the  eruption  of 
1631,  heavy  stones  were  thrown  to  the  distance  of  15  miles. 
One  which  fell  at  the  village  of  Somma  had  a  weight  of 
fifteen  tons.  The  earth  was  convulsed  by  a  violent  earth- 
quake, and  seven  streams  of  lava  poured  from  the  summit, 
overwhelming  Bosco,  Torre  dell'  Annunciata,  Torre  del  Greco, 
Kesina  and  Portici.  Three  thousand  persons  perished  on  the 
occasion.  In  1779  a  vast  number  of  red-hot  stones  were 
hurled  to  a  height  of  two  thousand  feet.  In  April,  1872,  after 
months  of  threatening,  the  lava  burst  forth  on  every  side — on 
the  north-east,  south-west,  and  more  particularly  at  the  Atrio 
del  Cavallo,  from  which  a  huge  stream  issued  with  such  sud- 
denness as  to  overtake  and  destroy  twenty  persons  out  of  a 
crowd  of  spectators  gathered  to  watch  the  spectacle.  The  tor- 
rent descended  to  Massa  and  St.  Sebastiano,  passing  beneath 
these  villages,  which  it  partially  destroyed,  in  a  molten  stream 
3,000  feet  wide  and  20  feet  deep.  At  the  same  time,  amidst 
terrific  thundering,  the  crater  hurled  forth  immense  volumes 
of  smoke,  mingled  with  red-hot  stones  and  lava,  to  a  height 
of  40,000  feet. 

Mt.  ^Etna  is  altogether  a  more  majestic  structure.    It  has 


88  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

a  circumference  at  base  of  one  hundred  miles.  It  rises  10,840 
feet  above  sea-level,  and  3,000  feet  above  the  forest-limit. 
The  highest  cone  is  a  black  and  silent  waste.  The  whole 
mountain,  from  top  to  bottom,  is  a  series  of  frozen  lava- 
sheets  piled  one  above  another.  Some  conception  of  the  age 
of  the  mountain  may  be  formed  from  the  fact  that  JEtna  has 
been  known  from  the  earliest  ages  as  a  volcanic  mountain, 
and  eruptions  have  occurred,  on  an  average,  once  in  ten  years, 
yet,  within  the  historic  period  its  bulk  and  altitude  have  not 
increased  to  a  perceptible  extent.  The  eruptions  of  ^Etna  are 
attended  by  circumstances  similar  to  those  of  Vesuvius.  The 
lava,  however,  does  not  escape,  in  modern  times,  from  the 
summit  crater,  but  breaks  through  the  wall  at  some  distance 
below.  In  1669,  the  Monti  Rossi,  so-called,  were  formed,  and 
27,000  persons  were  deprived  of  all  shelter,  and  many  lives 
were  lost  in  the  descending  streams* of  lava.  In  1693,  an 
eruption  was  accompanied  by  a  fearful  earthquake  which  par- 
tially or  totally  destroyed  forty  towns  and  caused  a  loss  of 
sixty  to  one  hundred  thousand  lives. 

One  of  the  greatest  eruptions  of  modern  times  occurred  in 
1865.  After  violent  premonitory  symptoms  two  years  pre- 
viously, when  the  loftiest  cone  of  the  volcano  opened  on  the 
side  and  emitted  a  large  stream  of  lava,  the  wall  of  the 
mountain  yielded  to  the  pressure  of  its  molten  contents. 
Some  subterranean  roaring  was  first  heard ;  slight  agitations 
affected  the  whole  eastern  part  of  Sicily,  and  the  ground  was 
rent  open  for  a  mile  and  a  half  to  the  north  of  Monte  Fru- 
mento,  one  of  the  secondary  cones  which  rise  on  the  slope  of 
^Etna.  This  vomited  lava  for  a  few  hours,  when,  seeming  to 
be  obstructed,  fresh  outbursts  occurred  a  little  lower  down, 
and  six  cones  of  ejection  were  built  up.  These  and  smaller 
ones  blended  together  in  an  elevation  of  nearly  300  feet.  Soon 
the  two  upper  craters  hurled  forth  only  lumps  of  stone  and 
ashes,  while  the  lower  poured  forth  lava.  Then  followed  the 
diversified  phenomena  of  a  prolonged  eruption,  which,  however 
interesting,  we  have  not  space  to  describe.  Of  the  volume  of 
lava  something  may  be  said. 


AMONG  THE  VOLCANOES.  89 

During  the  first  six  days,  the  quantity  of  lava  issuing 
from  the  fissure  of  Monte  Frumento  was  estimated  at  117  cu- 
bic yards  a  second.  In  the  vicinity  of  the  outlet,  the  speed 
of  the  current  was  not  less  than  twenty  feet  a  minute ;  but 
lower  down  the  velocity  was  diminished.  On  the  second  of 
February,  the  principal  current  had  traveled  three  miles.  It 
was  from  900  to  1,600  feet  wide  and  49  feet  deep.  Here  it 
plunged  like  a  cataract  into  a  deep  gorge.  "It  was  a  mag- 
nificent spectacle,  especially  during  the  night,  to  see  this  sheet 
of  molten  matter  dazzling  red  like  liquid  iron,  making  its  way 
in  a  thin  layer,  from  the  heaps  of  brown  scoriae  which  had 
gradually  accumulated  above  ;  then  carrying  with  it  the  more 
solid  lumps  which  dashed  one  against  the  other  with  a  metallic 
noise,  it  fell  over  into  the  ravine  only  to  rebound  in  stars  of 
fire."  In  a  few  days,  the  ravine  was  filled  and  the  lava  stood 
160  feet  deep.  From  this  the  flow  continued  east  toward 
Mascali,  filling  to  its  brink,  on  the  way,  the  winding  gorge  of 
the  dried  up  rivulet.  By  the  middle  of  February,  the  river 
of  fire  was  more  than  six  miles  long,  and  its  flow  was  more 
and  more  slackened  by  incasement  in  a  crust  of  cooled  ma- 
terial. Through  this,  it  continually  burst,  in  front  and  on  the 
sides,  and  new  spurts  darted  off  for  short  distances  in  various 
directions,  giving  to  the  solidified  stream  an  aspect  character- 
istically rough.  Suddenly  one  of  the  outbursts  far  up  the 
stream,  resulted  in  a  new  river,  which  flowed  toward  the  plains 
of  Lingua  grossa,  swallowing  up  thousands  of  trees.  The  de- 
structive action  was  not  much  longer  continued,  but  months 
after  the  commencement  of  the  eruption,  the  molten  fluid 
within  the  incrusted  river  continued  to  burst  forth  in  slowly 
advancing  and  overlapping  outflows,  leaving  an  exterior  black 
and  rough  beyond  description. 

This  eruption  may  serve  to  illustrate  the  volume  of  molten 
lava  sometimes  emitted  from  a  volcano.  Perhaps  a  more 
striking  example  of  volume  is  furnished  by  the  volcano  of 
Coseguina,  a  hillock  about  500  feet  high  on  a  promontory  to 
the  south  of  the  Bay  of  Fonseca  in  Central  America.  The 
ashes  thrown  into  the  upper  atmosphere  spread  out  in  a  dark 

8 


90  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

canopy  several  hundred  miles  in  width.  It  covered  the  plains 
for  a  distance  of  twenty-five  miles,  with  a  layer  of  dust  six- 
teen feet  thick.  The  headland  was  advanced  787  feet  into 
the  bay.  Two  new  islands  were  formed  from  the  ashes  and 
stones.  The  wind  carried  the  dust  westward  more  than  forty 
degrees  of  longitude,  and  a  layer  of  pumice  was  formed  at  that 
distance  which  vessels  penetrated  with  difficulty.  On  the 
east,  the  fall  of  ashes  extended  to  Jamaica,  800  miles.  The 
area  covered  by  the  fall  was  one  and  a  half  million  square 
miles ;  and  the  total  volume  of  matter  which  escaped  was  not 
less  than  65J  billions  of  cubic  yards.  The  sound  of  the  ex- 
plosion was  heard  at  Bogota,  1,025  miles  distant.  Impenetra- 
ble darkness  reigned  for  forty-three  hours  throughout  the  re- 
gion of  the  eruption. 

The  amount  of  lava  from  Kilau-e'-a  in  1840  exceeded 
six  billion  five  hundred  and  fifty  million  cubic  yards.  That 
from  Mauna  Loa,  in  1835,  flowed  seventy-six  miles  from  the 
crater.  The  volcano  of  Skaptar  Jokul,  in  Iceland,  was  cleft 
asunder  in  1783,  and  gave  vent  to  two  rivers  of  fire,  each  of 
which  filled  up  a  valley;  one  attained  a  length  of  fifty  miles, 
with  a  breadth  of  fifteen  miles;  the  other  was  of  less  dimen- 
sions, but  the  depth  of  the  mass  was  in  some  places  as  much 
as  four  hundred  and  ninety-two  feet.  The  whole  volume  of 
lava  erupted  on  this  occasion  was  not  less  than  six  hundred 
and  fifty-five  billions  of  cubic  yards — a  volume  equivalent  to 
that  of  the  whole  mass  of  Mont  Blanc. 

Many  thrilling  narratives  of  volcanic  violence  might  be 
cited ;  but  these  must  serve  as  examples.  They  demonstrate 
the  existence  of  enormous  reservoirs  of  molten  rock  within 
the  earth,  and  the  exertion  of  such  inconceivable  forces  as 
suffice  to  burst  mountains,  to  hurl  rock-fragments  a  mile  into 
the  atmosphere ;  to  blow  into  atoms,  while  escaping  with 
steam  and  gases,  sufficient  matter  to  bury  thousands  of  square 
miles  in  ashes.  It  appears  that  isolated  volcanic  cones,  like 
Vesuvius,  jEtna,  and  Shasta,  are  composed  generally  of  piles 
of  ejected  materials,  inaugurated  by  the  escape  of  matter 
through  an  initial  fissure.  The  volcanic  cone  is  hollow  above, 


FROZEN  SEAS  OF  LAVA.  91 

with  a  pipe  leading  down  into  the  earth.  Through  this  the 
lava  rises  into  the  cavity.  When  the  strains  have  sufficiently 
accumulated,  the  lava  is  forced  above  its  usual  level — some- 
times overflowing  the  lips  pf  the  crater;  sometimes  bursting 
the  walls  of  the  mountain,  thinned  by  melting  from  within. 
Sometimes,  also,  the  walls  by  internal  fusion  become  so  much 
weakened  that  the  whole  summit  falls  in,  leaving  an  enor- 
mous open  chasm.  Over  this  a  solid  crust  forms  by  exposure. 
Then,  in  subsequent  ages,  this  is  pierced  by  a  new  rupture, 
around  which  a  new,  and  smaller,  cone  is  built  up,  with  the 
broken  margin  of  the  older  one  still  more  or  less  perfectly 
preserved.  So,  during  the  eruption  of  79,  the  crater  of  Ve- 
suvius collapsed,  and  the  present  crater  has  since  grown  up, 
leaving  still  on  the  north  a  vast  rampart,  Somma,  showing 
where  the  line  of  rupture  of  the  ancient  cone  was  traced. 


XVI.  KRONEN  SEAS  OR 

ANCIENT   LAVAS. 

THE  spectacle  of  a  volcano  in  a  state  of  active  eruption  is 
a  terrific  demonstration  of  the  forces  of  fire  imprisoned  within 
the  earth,  and  escaping  to  our  view  only  when  their  accumu- 
lated strength  exceeds  that  of  the  restraints  in  which  they  are 
held.  These  are  activities  of  the  present  ages  of  the  world, 
and  proofs  of  intense  heat  now  existing  within  the  cool  ex- 
terior. Geology  brings  to  our  notice  the  records  of  still 
vaster  and  more  terrific  operations  of  intense  heat.  Vast  as 
are  the  volumes  of  modern  eruptions,  they  are  slight  com- 
pared with  eruptions  of  former  geologic  ages.  The  limited 
amount  of  matter  poured  forth  in  modern  times  cools  near  the 
place  of  escape,  and  seldom  flows  to  the  distance  of  ten  miles. 
It  accumulates,  therefore,  around  the  vent,  and  builds  up  a 
volcanic  cone.^  In  earlier  times  the  molten  lava  issued  in  such 
quantity  as  to  retain  its  liquid  state  sufficiently  long  to  flow 
away  sometimes  a  hundred  miles  or  more,  and  overspread 
with  a  sea  of  fire  regions  as  broad  as  States.  The  modern 


92  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

volcano  exhibits,  perhaps,  a  greater  explosive  energy  than  the 
ancient  one,  and  hence  it  may  disperse  greater  volumes  of 
ashes ;  yet  some  of  the  ancient  volcanoes,  near  the  beginning 
of  modern  geological  history,  have  ejected  vastly  greater  quan- 
tities of  ashes  than  have  been  known  to  escape  during  any 
eruption  of  historic  times.  Let  us  make  the  acquaintance  of 
some  of  the  most  remarkable  of  lava-covered  areas. 

Let  us  turn,  first,  to  what  is  probably  the  most  extraordi- 
nary outflow  of  lava  lying  on  the  earth's  surface.  A  concise, 
but  comprehensive  description  has  been  furnished  by  Pro- 
fessor Joseph  Leconte:  "Commencing  in  middle  California  as 
separate  streams,  in  northern  California  it  becomes  a  flood 
flowing  over  and  completely  mantling  the  smaller  inequalities, 
and  flowing  around  the  greater  inequalities  of  surface ;  while 
in  northern  Oregon  and  Washington  it  becomes  an  absolutely 
universal  flood,  beneath  which  the  whole  original  face  of  the 
country,  with  its  hills  and  dales,  mountains  and  valleys,  lies 
buried  several  thousand  feet.  It  covers  the  greater  portion 
of  northern  California  and  northwestern  Nevada,  nearly  the 
whole  of  Oregon,  Washington,  and  Idaho,  and  runs  far  into 
Montana  and  British  Columbia  on  the  north.  Its  eastern  and 
southern  limits  are  not  well  known,  but  its  extent  can  not  be 
less  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  to  two  hundred 
thousand  square  miles,  with  a  thickness  of  three  thousand  to 
four  thousand  feet  in  its  thickest  part,  where  cut  through  by 
the  Columbia  River.  In  another  place,  at  least  seventy  miles 
distant,  where  cut  into  twenty-five  hundred  feet  deep  by  the 
Des  Chutes  River,  at  least  thirty  successive  sheets  may  be 
counted." 

The  Columbia  has  cut  through  the  entire  breadth  and 
depth  of  the  Cascade  range,  down  to  within  one  hundred  feet 
of  sea-level.  Here  is  a  canon  one  hundred  miles  long,  with 
the  summits  of  the  range  rising  twenty-five  hundred  to  thirty- 
eight  hundred  feet  above  the  river  surface.  The  entire  walls 
of  the  canon  are  composed  of  ancient  lava.  When  we  reflect 
that  the  peaks  of  the  Cascade  range  are  simply  results  of 
erosion,  we  can  well  believe  that  the  highest  summits  were 


FKOZEN  SEAS  OF  LAVA.  93 

originally  not  less  than  four  thousand  feet  above  the  base  of 
this  astounding  lava-deposit. 

This  vast  and  ponderous  sheet  of  lava  appears  to  have 
flowed  through  fissures  from  the  Cascade  Mountains,  and  nat- 
urally to  have  accumulated  to  greatest  thickness  along  that 
range.  The  sheet  extends  across  eastern  Oregon  to  the  Blue 
Mountains.  From  this  range,  also,  other,  but  less  copious, 
lava  streams  were  poured  forth. 

The  chain  of  volcanic  outbursts  continued  southward  into 
the  Sierra  Nevada.  The  lava  vents  here  were  more  local  and 
isolated.  The  lava,  though  enormous  in  quantity,  was  less 
than  in  Oregon,  and  overspread  the  surface  less  generally. 
Under  these  circumstances,  great  volcanic  cones  were  built 
up — such  as  Lassen,  Shasta,  Hood,  and  Ranier.  From 
Lassen's  Peak  the  sheets  of  lava  form  a  regular  slope  to  the 
Sacramento  river.  Through  this  the  streams  have  cut  their 
channels  five  hundred  to  eight  hundred  feet  deep. 

Nearly  all  the  so-called  Basin  Ranges  lying  eastward  of 
the  Sierra  Nevada,  through  Utah  and  parts  of  California  and 
Arizona,  are  composed,  at  least  in  part,  of  ancient  lavas. 
Through  the  Plateau  Region,  farther  east,  lavas  are  equally 
abundant.  In  the  Sevier  Basin,  according  to  Gilbert,  the 
great  Sevier  fault,  or  break,  through  the  rocks,  exposes  a 
maximum  thickness  of  two  thousand  feet.  South  of  the  Col- 
orado is  a  much  larger  lava-basin,  spreading  several  broad 
lobes  over  into  New  Mexico,  the  most  easterly  of  which, 
reaches  nearly  to  the  Rio  Grande.  Its  extreme  limits  are 
three  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles  apart.  It  includes  the 
San  Francisco,  Mogollon,  and  Sierra  Blanca  mountains.  This 
outflow  proceeded  from  a  large  number  of  vents.  In  San 
Francisco  Mpuntain  we  have  a  pyramid  of  compact  lava 
nearly  five  thousand  feet  high,  with  slopes  of  ten  to  twenty 
degrees. 

The  examples  cited  are  sufficient  to  impress  the  imagina- 
tion and  enable  us  to  appreciate  the  magnitude  of  the  work 
of  heat  in  the  geological  aeon  not  long  antecedent  to  the  dawn 
of  modern  times.  We  mark  the  Tertiary,  and  especially  the 


94  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

later  Tertiary,  ages  as  signalized  in  the  history  of  the  world 
by  outflows  of  molten  lava — primarily  from  fissures,  but  sec- 
ondarily building  up  small  and  moderate  sized  cones  in  great 
abundance,  and  not  a  few  stupendous  mountain  piles  reaching 
to  eighteen  thousand  feet. 

In  remote  geologic  ages  lava  eruptions  were  of  frequent 
occurrence — but  less  frequent  and  less  copious  than  in  later 
ages.  During  the  Triassic  Age  (see  Table,  p.  73)  many  erup- 
tions of  lava  occurred,  both  in  Europe  and  America.  The 
Palisades  of  the  Hudson;  the  cliffs  of  Meriden,  Connecticut, 
and  East  and  West  Rock,  New  Haven,  are  ancient  lavas  of 
this  age.  Much  farther  back  in  geological  history,  in  Cambrian 
time,  or  as  some  think  before  Cambrian  time,  vast  and  repeated 
outflows  of  lava  took  place  which  remain  to-day  uplifted  in 
Keweenaw  Point  and  He  Roy  ale.  The  native  copper  is 
found  imbedded  in  these  ancient  lavas. 

A  fissure  filled  with  rock-material  solidified  from  a  state  of 
fusion,  is  a  dyke.  Sometimes  the  formation  containing  the 
dyke  is  more  friable  than  the  lava,  and  weathers  away  more 
rapidly.  The  dyke  then  projects  above  the  surface  like  a 
vertical  wall.  Certain  varieties  of  lava  called  basalt  possess 
the  peculiar  property  of  assuming  a  columnar  structure  while 
cooling.  The  longer  axes  of  the  columns  are  ranged  at  right 
angles  with  the  cooling  surfaces.  Thus,  when  the  basalt  cools 
in  a  fissure,  the  columns  lie  transversely  from  wall  to  wall.  In 
most  cases,  the  columns  are  vertical.  This  is  thought  some- 
times to  result  from  cooling  under  the  sea ;  but  probably  when 
a  sheet  of  basalt  rests  on  the  surface  of  the  earth,  the  atmos- 
phere above  and  the  earth  below  are  cooling  surfaces  of  the 
requisite  efficiency  to  develop  vertical  columnar  structure. 
The  columnar  structure  induced  to  an  imperfect  extent,  in 
basaltic  rocks  of  He  Royale  may  be  conceived  as  produced  in 
the  bottom  of  the  sea;  but  the  columnar  structure  in  the 
canon  of  the  Columbia  must  have  been  acquired  upon  the 
land.  The  columns,  in  some  cases,  rest  with  their  ends 
directly  on  a  bed  of  pebbles  and  sand  not  over  a  hundred 
feet  thick,  and  bearing  the  evidences  of  torrential  action — 


FROZEN  SEAS  OP  LAVA.  95 

therefore  a  shallow- water  deposit,  while  the  columnar  basalt  is 
three  thousand  five  hundred  feet  thick.  High  cliffs  of  basaltic 
columns,  like  those  exposed  on  the  Hudson  and  Columbia 
rivers  are  often  called  palisades. 

\  In  some  cases  the  uprising  lavas  have  not  been  able  to 
find  their  way  to  the  surface.  Either  the  fissures  in  which 
they  started,  from  some  unknown  depth,  never  extended  to 
the  surface,  or  the  streams  lost  their  way  and  found  them- 
selves pent  in  the  strata,  and  crowded  in  every  direction  in 
search  of  relief.  In  such  case  the  lavas  have  sometimes  in- 
sinuated themselves  laterally  between  the  strata  to  such  ex- 
tent as  to  separate  the  strata  by  a  considerable  interval,  with- 
out being  able  to  escape  to  the  surface.  The  result  is,  a  dome- 
like elevation  of  the  surface,  forming  a  peculiar  type  of  mount- 
ains called  laccolites — named  and  first  described  by  Mr.  G.  K. 
Gilbert.  In  many  cases,  the  arched  strata  become  much  fis- 
sured, and  the  lava  sheets  communicate  quite  freely  with  each 
other.  Such  laccolites  exposed  to  the  processes  of  erosion  reveal 
the  constitution  of  the  interior.  This  subject  is  fully  illus- 
trated by  Mr.  Gilbert  in  his  memoir  on  the  Henry  Mountains 
in  eastern  Utah. 

River  erosions  of  vast  lava-sheets  have  resulted  in  many 
striking  forms.  As  the  most  extensive  sheets  are  the  result 
of  late  geological  action,  they  generally  rest  on  incoherent 
materials — gravel  and  sand,  as  in  Oregon  and  California. 
When  the  erosions  of  the  streams  have  cut  through  the  lava, 
and  for  some  distance  into  the  gravel,  the  less  coherent  nature 
of  the  latter  causes  an  undermining  of  the  lava-sheet.  It  thus 
projects  like  a  table-top,  beyond  the  gravel.  When  the  ero- 
sion cuts  the  lava-sheet  along  parallel  lines,  it  gives  rise  to 
the  forms  known  as  "table  mountains."  These  are  common 
in  the  volcanic  region  of  central  France;  and  especially  so  in 
eastern  California.  In  Butte  county,  the  ancient  drainage 
wore  channels  stretching  westward  from  the  upland  of  the 
Sierra.  These  were  subsequently  filled  by  outflows  of  lava. 
Then  in  modern  times,  a  change  of  levels  established  drainage 
from  north  to  south.  The  modern  streams,  therefore,  have 


96  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

cut  channels  across  the  ancient  ones,  and  lava-topped  intervals 
remain.  These  are  table  mountains.  Further  south,  in  Tuo- 
lumne  county,  the  ancient  and  the  modern  drainage  both 
moved  from  north  to  south.  The  aucient  channels,  therefore, 
stretched  north  and  south,  and  the  lava-sheets  which  filled 
them  stretched  from  north  to  south.  The  modern  water- 
courses have  shunned  the  hard  lava,  and  have  dug  their  chan- 
nels alongside  of  the  lava,  in  less  consolidated  materials- 
gravels  or  slates.  These  positions  were  formerly  the  elevated 
banks  of  the  streams.  Thus,  the  undisturbed,  elongated  lava- 
sheets,  which  rested  on  the  bottoms  of  the  ancient  channels, 
now  rest  on  elongated  ridges.  The  ancient  bottoms  are  be- 
neath these  tables.  Over  the  ancient  bottoms  were  distrib- 
uted the  auriferous  gravels  from  the  mountains ;  and  here  they 
are  still  found.  They  are  the  "deep  placers;"  and  are  ex- 
plored by  drifting  in  from  the  sides.  The  beds  of  the  modern 
streams,  strewn  with  auriferous  sands  from  the  same  sources 
form  the  so-called  "shallow  placers." 


-    XVII.      I M  PRISON  ED    HEDA.T. 
INTERNAL  CONDITION   OP  THE  EARTH. 

IT  is  a  startling  circumstance  to  see  warm  water  issue  from 
a  hole  bored  in  the  rocks.  The  common  impression  is  that 
deep  waters  are  cooler  than  the  average  temperature  at  the 
surface.  A  well  of  this  sort  is  styled  Artesian;  and  you  will 
understand  that  the  water  is  forced  up  by  pressure  of  other 
water  standing  somewhere,  at  a  higher  level,  and  freely  com- 
municating with  this.  You  have  learned,  for  instance  (Talk 
XIII),  that  strata  often  dip  down  from  their  place  of  outcrop 
to  a  great  depth  into  the  earth.  Suppose  a  porous  formation, 
like  a  sandstone,  thus  goes  down  from  the  surface ;  the  rain 
which  falls  on  its  outcrop  must  soak  into  the  rock  and  saturate 
it.  This  is  then  a  water-bearing  stratum.  In  descending  ob- 
liquely it  passes  under  many  places ;  and  if  a  hole  should  be 
bored  from  the  surface  to  this  stratum,  the  water  would  rise 


IMPRISONED  HEAT.  97 

into  it  to  the  height  of  the  place  of  outcrop.  If  the  place  of 
boring  is  lower  than  the  outcrop,  the  water  will  rise  above  the 
surface.  The  water  comes  up  with  nearly  the  temperature 
acquired  at  the  bottom  of  the  well. 

The  sun's  warmth  penetrates  daily  but  a  foot  or  two  in 
summer;  and  at  night,  much  of  this  is  lost  by  radiation. 
Not  all,  however,  for  the  deeper  warmth  continues  to  descend ; 
and  next  day's  excess  of  warmth  follows  this.  Thus  the  sum- 
mer heat  accumulates,  and  continues  to  descend.  It  grows 
less  and  less,  however,  and  at  fifty  feet,  can  no  longer  be 
discerned.  The  winter's  cold  also  penetrates  slowly,  and 
diminishing  in  intensity  at  every  foot,  ceases  to  influence  the 
temperature  at  the  depth  of  about  fifty  feet.  At  this  depth 
then,  the  temperature  is  constant  the  year  round.  The  depth 
of  constant  temperature  varies,  however,  with  the  nature  of 
the  climate.  If  the  surface  fluctuations  are  excessively  great, 
you  can  understand  that  the  contrasts  must  be  felt  at  a  greater 
depth.  In  Minnesota,  therefore,  the  depth  of  uniform  tem- 
perature would  be  greater  than  fifty  feet.  In  Florida,  how- 
ever, where  the  climatic  extremes  are  much  less,  the  depth  of 
uniform  temperature  would  be  less  than  fifty  feet.  The  uni- 
form temperature  under  any  region  must  be  about  the  same 
as  the  mean  annual  temperature  at  the  surface. 

The  heat  of  midsummer  and  the  cold  of  midwinter  pene- 
trate the  earth  at  the  rate  of  about  one  foot  per  week.  Hence 
the  cold  of  January  1st  is  felt  at  a  depth  of  twenty-five  feet 
about  July  1st ;  and  so  of  the  cold  or  heat  of  any  other  date. 
At  twenty-five  feet  the  temperature  of  water  is  higher  in 
winter  and  lower  in  summer.  So  the  popular  opinion  about 
certain  wells  is  not  entirely  unfounded. 

If,  however,  we  employ  means  to  ascertain  the  tempera- 
ture at  depths  below  the  plane  of  constant  temperature,  we 
find  it  regularly  increasing  as  we  descend.  We  do  not  find 
the  rate  of  increase  exactly  the  same  at  different  localities, 
but  the  average  is  about  one  degree  (Fahrenheit)  for  every 
fifty  or  sixty  feet  of  descent.  The  Artesian  well  at  Charles- 
ton, South  Carolina,  is  1,250  feet  deep,  and  the  bottom 

9 


98  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

temperature  is  87°.  As  the  mean  surface  temperature  is  66°, 
and  the  depth  of  uniform  temperature  may  be  assumed  at  50 
feet,  the  increase  is  at  the  rate  of  57  feet  for  one  degree.  At 
Louisville,  Kentucky,  is  an  Artesian  well  2,086  feet  deep, 
with  a  bottom  temperature  of  86 J°.  As  the  surface  tempera- 
ture is  55^°,  the  rate  of  increase  is  one  degree  for  every  66 
feet.  The  Belcher  well  at  St.  Louis  with  a  depth  of  2,199 
feet,  has  a  bottom  temperature  of  73°. 4.  The  surface  tem- 
perature being  55°,  the  indicated  rate  of  increase  is  one  degree 
for  116  feet.  This  is  exceptional.  At  Columbus,  Ohio,  an 
Artesian  well  2,775J  feet  deep  gives  a  bottom  temperature  of 
91°  with  a  surface  mean  of  52°.  This  implies  a  rate  of  in- 
crease of  one  degree  for  every  77  feet.  Again,  the  well  at 
the  Insane  Asylum,  St.  Louis,  is  3,843^  feet  deep  and  affords 
water  at  105°,  giving  a  rate  of  increase  of  one  degree  for 
76  feet. 

In  deep  mines,  the  temperature  becomes  intolerable,  and 
measures  have  to  be  adopted  for  the  introduction  of  fresh  air 
from  the  surface.  In  the  deep  workings  on  the  celebrated 
"  Comstock  Lode,"  the  temperature  of  the  water  at  2,000  feet 
is  130°.  The  water  which  filled  the  Savage  and  Hale  and 
Norcross  mines  for  two  years,  had  a  temperature  of  157°.  At 
3,080  feet,  the  temperature  is  170°.  To  cool  the  air  suffi- 
ciently for  the  endurance  of  the  miners,  over  thirty  tons  of 
ice  were  consumed  daily.  [See  further,  Talk  XXI.] 

Tunnels  through  mountains  generally  attain  oppressive 
temperatures.  The  Mont  Cenis  Tunnel  through  the  Alps, 
between  Turin  and  Chambery,  lies  4, 093  feet  below  the  surface 
of  the  Pass,  or  5,251  feet  below  the  summit  of  Mt.  Frejus, 
and  is  eight  miles  in  length.  The  rise  of  temperature  discov- 
ered in  the  rocks  is  about  fifty  degrees. 

Assuming  the  rate  of  increase  to  be  one  degree  for  60  feet 
of  descent,  we  should  obtain,  in  the  latitude  of  New  York, 
heat  enough  to  boil  water  at  a  depth  of  about  9,000  feet.  At 
the  depth  of  50  miles,  the  temperature  would  be  4,600°, 
which  is  far  above  the  melting  temperature  of  ordinary  min- 
eral substances.  In  this  method  of  reasoning  we  find  an  easy 


IMPRISONED  HEAT.  99 

explanation  of  the  temperature  of  deep  waters,  and  of  the 
molten  condition  of  rocky  matter  erupted  from  volcanoes.  But 
we  know  that  boiling  and  melting  points,  under  the  enormous 
pressure  experienced  within  the  earth,  are  materially  higher 
than  at  the  surface.  There  is  much  reason  also,  to  argue,  on 
theoretical  grounds,  that  the  rate  of  increase  of  temperature 
continually  diminishes  at  any  considerable  depths.  But,  though 
the  depth  may  be  quite  uncertain  at  which  a  rock-melting 
temperature  would  be  reached,  we  have  the  demonstration 
that  such  temperature  exists  at  some  depth. 

Movements  of  temperature  beneath  the  earth's  surface  are 
slow.  Many  instances  are  known  of  permanent  ice  preserved 
in  caverns.  At  Brandon,  Vermont,  permanent  frozen  gravel 
exists  at  a  depth  of  sixteen  feet.  In  the  Caucasus,  masses  of 
ice  lie  buried  permanently  in  the  moraines,  one  of  which  is 
1,500  feet  distant  from  any  glacier,  and  others  are  a  mile  be- 
low the  termination  of  the  glacier.  In  Siberia  and  in  northern 
America,  the  earth  remains  permanently  frozen  at  a  depth  of 
two  or  three  feet.  At  Yakutsk,  in  eastern  Siberia,  the  earth 
is  frozen  to  a  depth  of  700  feet.  As  these  and  other  occur- 
rences of  permanent  ice  are  not  attributable  to  any  climatic 
influences  now  existing,  they  must  be  the  records  and  evidences 
of  more  rigorous  climates  in  the  past.  In  other  words,  the 
climate  of  the  present  is  still  contending  with  temperatures 
whose  effects  are  lingering  in  protected  situations  long  after 
the  climates  have  become  ameliorated.  It  has  been  demon- 
strated that  an  ice-cap  resting  several  thousand  years  over  any 
considerable  portion  of  the  surface,  would  so  reduce  the  sub- 
jacent temperature  of  the  earth  that  for  many  centuries  after 
the  disappearance  of  the  ice,  a  decrease  of  temperature  would 
be  discovered  in  penetrating  downward.  Even  centuries  later, 
so  much  cold  would  still  remain  within  the  earth,  that  the  rate 
of  increase  of  temperature  would  be  less  than  if  the  ice-cap 
had  not  existed;  and  after  3,600  years,  that  rate  would  be 
only  half  the  normal  rate. 

Masses  of  lava  are  singularly  poor  conductors  of  heat.  A 
lava  stream  has  been  found  still  burning  a  century  after  its 


100  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

eruption.  Some  years  ago  a  bed  of  ice  was  discovered  on  the 
slope  of  JEtna,  buried  beneath  a  stream  of  lava ;  and  from  this 
the  city  of  Catania  has  since  obtained  supplies  of  ice.  On 
Tierra  del  Fuego  ice  and  lava  are  found  interstratified  for  a 
great  depth — each  winter's  snow  being  covered  by  a  new  lava- 
sheet.  In  1860  the  crater  of  the  mountain  Kutlagaya,  in  Ice- 
land, hurled  out  simultaneously  into  the  air  lumps  of  lava 
and  of  ice,  all  intermingled  together. 

These  are  interesting  facts,  but  I  propose  for  them  no  other 
use  at  present  than  to  show  some  possible  reasons  why  the  rate 
of  increase  is  unequal  at  different  localities  or  different  depths. 
We  know  that  some  regions  have  been  overlaid  by  sheets  of 
snow  and  ice.  We  have  also  discovered  reasons  for  believing 
that  our  northern  States,  as  far  as  the  bowlders  are  distributed, 
were  covered  by  continental  glaciers  during  a  geological 
period.  If  this  was  so,  it  may  be  that  their  cooling  influence 
is  still  left  within  the  earth ;  and  if  it  is,  the  rate  of  increase 
of  temperature  as  observed  is  lower  than  it  would  be  under 
normal  conditions.  A  more  rapid  rate  of  increase  implies  a 
thinner  crust  of  solid  matter.  But,  while  these  considerations 
must  not  be  forgotten,  it  must  be  confessed  that  most  of  the 
questions  concerning  internal  heat  are  still  imperfectly  un- 
derstood. 

Though  we  are  certain  intense  internal  heat  exists,  we 
neither  know  at  what  depth  it  exists,  at  what  ratio  it  increases, 
nor  what  is  its  cause  or  source.  Nor  do  we  know  whether  the 
deep  interior  is  in  a  solid  or  a  liquid  state. 

As  to  the  cause  of  the  heat,  two  principal  theories  are  held. 
The  first  conceives  the  internal  heat  to  be  the  residual  heat  of 
a  cooling  and  once  molten  globe.  (Talks,  XXXVII  and 
XXXVIII).  The  earth  is  evidently  cooling.  The  records  of 
past  volcanic  action  prove  that  heat  has  escaped  in  enormous 
quantities  from  the  interior.  Thousands  of  cubic  miles  of 
molten  lava  now  solidified  over  the  surface,  imply  some  reduc- 
tion of  the  earth's  temperature,  and  the  problem  is  one  which 
might  be  solved.  The  traces  of  former  intense  action  at  the 
surface  are  retained  also  in  enormous  rock  formations  which 


IMPEISONED  HEAT.  101 

have  not  been  fused  and  reduced  to  lava,  but  have  been  soft- 
ened and  .vitrified,  and  afterward  cooled.  Then  the  daily  radi- 
ation of  heat  from  the  earth  exceeds  the  amount,  received  from 
the  sun.  If  the  earth  is  cooling,  and  has  foi;  geik^gic  periods 
been  cooling,  it  is  not  difficult  to  admit  that,  some  former  tem- 
perature was  high  enough  to  reduce  it  to.  a,  molten  ^aiiitJGisv. 
If  that  condition  existed,  the  process  of  cooling  would  result 
in  a  film  over  the  exterior,  which  would  be  the  primitive  or 
fire-formed  crust,  on  which  the  first  ocean  descended,  and  the 
first  sediments  accumulated,  while  the  protected  interior  re- 
tained a  higher  temperature.  The  fusing  temperature  now 
existing  within  may  be  but  the  residuum  of  primitive  heat  left 
after  so  long  a  process  of  cooling.  This  is  one  view. 

Again,  it  has  been  contended  that  the  internal  heat  results 
(at  least  in  part)  from  crushing  and  friction  in  the  crust,  pro- 
duced by  motions  and  pressures  exerted.  Mallet  showed  that 
the  heat  generated  in  crushing  small  cubes  of  granite  might 
become  sufficient  to  cause  fusion.  We  know,  also,  that  the 
cohesion  of  no  substance  is  adequate  to  withstand  all  assigna- 
ble pressures.  No  rock  has  the  requisite  rigidity  to  resist  the 
crushing  weight  of  a  mountain  twenty  miles  high.  Whatever 
movements  may  take  place  in  the  earth's  crust,  involve  masses 
so  great  and  forces  so  enormous  that  the  resistances  of  ordinary 
matter  are  inconsiderable.  The  most  solid  rocks  are  essentially 
fluid  or  viscid.  Now,  such  movements  must  necessarily  result 
from  two  causes :  First,  a  slow  shrinkage  of  the  earth  through 
loss  of  heat ;  secondly,  the  attractions  of  the  sun  and  moon, 
which  cause  tidal  protuberances  on  the  surface  of  the  earth, 
however  rigid  it  may  be ;  and  these,  continually  shifting  their 
positions,  as  the  oceanic  tides  do,  result  in  daily  motions  ade- 
quate to  develop  a  large  amount  of  frictional  heat. 

But,  whatever  the  cause  of  the  internal  heat  existing,  we 
can  not  demonstrate  that  the  whole  interior  is  molten  ;  nor  that 
the  earth  is  solid  to  the  core ;  nor  that  we  have  a  solid  core  and 
a  solid  crust,  with  an  irregular  zone  between,  in  which  the 
matter  is  molten,  or,  at  least,  in  a  plastic  state.  We  have 
many  facts;  we  are  building  our  theories  cautiously,  and  in  the 


102  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

meantime  we  must  all  hold  tightly  to  the  facts  and  loosely  to 
the  theories.  The  learner  must  here  content  himself  with  the 
uncertamtyr  acknowledged  by  his  masters. 


*  -V*  V  •  '         «'«<•/ 

!xVlil!    THE  UNSTABLE 

PHENOMENA   AND   CAUSES  OF   EARTHQUAKES. 

WHEN  men  feel  the  earth  beneath  their  feet  growing  un- 
stable, the  most  paralyzing  sense  of  insecurity  seizes  them.  The 
ground  supports  every  thing;  to  the  ground  man  intrusts  his 
.most  elaborate  and  substantial  structures,  and  when  it  fails 
him  the  dismay  is  complete.  Yet  the  solid  earth  has  not  only 
been  shaken  by  throes  which  have  ingulfed  cities  and  popula- 
tions and  mountains,  but  there  is  scarcely  a  moment  when  its 
movements  or  its  tremblings  may  not  be  felt  by  the  delicate 
means  of  research  employed  by  modern  science.  The  stability 
of  the  solid  earth  is  instability  itself. 

The  destructive  shock  lasts  but  a  few  minutes,  or  even 
seconds.  The  successive  vibrations  which  devastated  Calabria 
in  1783  were  felt  during  barely  two  minutes.  On  the  occa- 
sion of  the  destruction  of  the  city  of  Lisbon,  in  1755  and  the 
loss  of  60,000  lives,  it  was  the  first  shock,  lasting  five  or  six 
seconds,  which  caused  the  greatest  damage.  As  to  extent  of 
damage,  Sicily,  in  1693,  and  Calabria,  in  1783,  have  been 
among  the  greatest  sufferers.  Each,  according  to  best  esti- 
mates, lost  a  hundred  thousand  lives.  In  Syria,  Japan,  and 
the  Sunda  Archipelago,  earthquakes  are  reported  to  have  been 
attended  by  still  greater  fatalities.  In  the  year  526,  more 
than  200,000  people  met  with  death  at  Antioch  and  the  ad- 
jacent towns.  The  volcanic  eruption  of  Kra-kat'o-a,  in 
August,  1883,  was  attended  by  a  sea-wave  and  earthquake 
which,  according  to  reports,  caused  the  death  of  twenty  thou- 
sand persons. 

The  motions  which  constitute  an  earthquake  are  various. 
Sometimes  they  are  vertical,  either  slow  or  rapid.  More  gen- 
erally they  are  horizontal.  In  such  case,  they  consist  mostly 


THE  UNSTABLE  LAND.  103 

of  short,  sudden  vibrations  which  travel  through  the  earth  at 
the  rate  of  one  or  two  thousand  feet  a  second.  The  rate  of 
transmission  varies  with  the  intensity  of  the  shock  and  the 
nature  of  the  rock  materials.  When  mines  of  powder  were  ex- 
ploded near  Holyhead,  in  Wales,  the  waves  of  disturbance 
were  propagated  through  wet  sand  at  the  rate  of  951  feet  a 
second ;  through  friable  granite  1,283  feet,  and  through  com- 
pact granite  1,640  feet  a  second.  Mr.  Mallet  calculated  that 
during  the  earthquake  of  Calabria  in  1857,  the  waves 
traveled  through  the  earth  at  the  rate  of  820  feet  a  second. 

It  appears  thus,  that  the  transmission  of  the  waves  of 
disturbance  is  favored  by  the  solidity  of  the  medium.  Hence 
we  discover  the  explanation  of  a  fact  observed  two  thousand 
years  ago  by  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  that  caverns,  wells,  and 
quarries  retard  the  progress  of  the  disturbance  and  thus  pro- 
tect edifices  built  in  their  vicinity. 

The  surface  movement  of  earthquake  waves  is  radially 
from  a  center.  The  cause  of  the  disturbance  must  be  re- 
garded as  acting  with  greatest  violence  at  the  center,  while 
the  effects  gradually  die  out,  as  the  distance  from  the  center 
increases.  But  the  distances  to  which  the  effects  are  trans- 
mitted are  not  equal  in  different  directions ;  and  this  fact  is, 
undoubtedly,  attributable  to  the  unequal  distribution  of  the 
rocks.  Generally,  the  disturbance  should  be  farther  felt  in 
the  direction  of  the  strike  of  strata,  than  in  a  direction, 
across  the  strata;  since  in  the  latter  direction,  the  waves  have 
to  cross  all  the  interruptions  which  characterize  the  strati- 
fied condition.  So,  if  on  one  side  of  an  earthquake  center, 
the  country  is  granitic,  and  in  the  opposite,  is  underlaid  by 
Tertiary  clays  and  sands,  the  granitic  region  will  be  most 
widely  and  most  severely  shaken.  It  is  not  supposable  that 
the  actual  center  of  an  earthquake  disturbance  is  at  the  sur- 
face. It  must  exist  at  some  considerable  depth  beneath  the 
surface.  Careful  study  of  the  directions  indicated  by  the  effects 
produced,  have  led  not  only  to  the  determination  of  a  radial 
progress  over  the  surface,  but  to  a  center  of  disturbance,  in 
each  case,  some  miles  beneath  the  surface.  According  to 


104  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

Mallet,  the  center  of  disturbance  of  the  Calabrian  earthquake 
of  1857  was  seven  to  eight  miles  below  sea-level.  From  this 
point,  the  waves  traveled  in  every  direction,  assuming  posi- 
tions like  the  concentric  shells  of  successively  larger  spheres. 
Dr.  Oldham  found  the  focus  of  the  great  Cachar  earthquake 
of  1869  in  India,  to  be  considerably  deeper. 

It  has  been  a  common  opinion,  from  ancient  times,  that 
earthquakes  are  sometimes  characterized  by  vortical  or  twist- 
ing motions.  The  latest  investigations,  however,  do  not  sus- 
tain this  view.  Every  position  assumed  by  objects  moved  can 
be  explained  by  motions  of  a  rectilinear,  vibratory  character. 

Sounds  often  accompany  earthquakes,  even  when  not  coin- 
cident with  volcanic  eruptions.  Sometimes  they  resemble 
explosions  as  of  distant  artillery;  more  frequently  it  is  a 
rumbling  sound  as  of  heavy  vehicles  moving  over  a  city 
pavement.  I  have  myself  experienced  but  one  noteworthy 
earthquake ;  and  that  happened  in  Michigan  and  neigboring 
regions  on  the  19th  of  September,  1884.  It  lasted  about  ten 
seconds.  The  floor  on  which  I  rested  was  very  perceptibly 
vibrated,  and  a  rumbling  sound  was  extremely  audible,  like 
that  of  a  train  of  cars,  with  the  beats  quite  rhythmical. 

Among  the  effects  of  earthquakes,  though  of  a  secondary 
character,  are  the  drying  up  of  springs,  the  sudden  increase 
of  their  volume,  the  augmentation  or  diminution  of  their 
temperature  and  the  production  of  muddiness  in  the  water. 
Artesian  wells  are  similarly  affected.  Sometimes  the  occasion 
is  signalized  by  the  escape  of  mud,  water,  gas,  or  flames.  Oc- 
casionally, as  in  the  Andalusian  earthquakes  of  1884,  the 
ground  is  rent  open  for  considerable  distances.  During  the 
frightful  disturbances  of  Calabria  in  1783,  the  phenomena 
of  ground-ruptures  ranked  among  the  grandest  and  most  fear- 
ful effects  of  the  catastrophe.  Whole  mountain  sides,  under- 
mined by  water,  slid  down  in  mass,  and  tumbled  into  the 
plains  below,  covering  all  the  cultivated  ground.  Cliffs  fell 
down  in  a  body,  and  rocks  opened,  swallowing  the  houses 
which  stood  upon  them.  At  the  western  base  of  the  granitic 
chain  of  the  peninsula,  the  ground  affected  by  the  shock  was 


THE  UNSTABLE  LAND.  105 

cleft  open  for  a  length  of  more  than  eighteen  miles,  and  in 
some  places,  the  fissure  was  several  yards  in  width.  In 
another  place,  a  cleft  occurred  131  feet  deep,  over  a  mile  long 
and  32  feet  wide.  Sometimes  the  disturbances  of  an  earth- 
quake leave  the  surface  permanently  elevated  or  permanently 
depressed.  In  one  remarkable  instance  in  the  country  of 
Cutch,  the  Great  Runn  sank  down  over  an  extent  of  some 
thousands  of  square  miles,  so  that,  during  a  part  of  the  year, 
it  remained  inundated  by  the  sea,  and  during  another  part 
was  a  desert  without  water. 

A  few  other  facts  connected  with  earthquakes  must  be 
mentioned,  and  then  we  will  endeavor  to  ascertain  how  they 
are  caused.  Through  the  monumental  patience  and  industry 
of  M.  Perrey,  we  have  been  placed  in  possession  of  thousands 
of  statistics  of  earthquakes  between  1842  and  1850.  Through 
the  similar  labors  of  Mr.  Robert  Mallet  and  his  son  John  W. 
Mallet,  we  have  been  placed  in  possession  of  the  facts  respect- 
ing other  earthquakes  between  1606  B.  C.  and  1842.  From 
both  sources  we  have  a  record  of  six  or  seven  thousand  sepa- 
rate earthquakes.  The  laborious  discussion  of  this  immense 
catalogue  shows  very  important  results  respecting  the  distri- 
bution of  earthquake  occurences  through  the  year.  Earth- 
quakes are  found  to  occur  most  frequently  at  new  and  full 
moon  ;  also,  more  frequently  at  perigee  than  at  apogee ;  also, 
more  frequently  when  the  moon  is  on  the  meridian  than  when 
in  the  horizon ;  also,  more  frequently  in  winter  than  in  sum- 
mer; and  finally,  more  frequently  at  night  than  during  the 
day.  The  results  of  this  interesting  analysis  we  will  presently 
apply  to  earthquake  theory. 

It  requires  but  little  acquaintance  with  the  phenomena 
usually  ascribed  to  earthquakes,  to  discern  that  they  do  not  all 
belong  to  one  class.  Most  widely  destructive  earthquakes  are 
characterized  by  vibrations  of  the  earth,  and  these  alone  are 
admitted  by  Mallet  as  true  earthquakes.  These  may  be  de- 
nominated earthquakes  of  vibration.  Other  movements  of  the 
earth  are  translatory.  The  surface  is  bodily  uplifted  or 
depressed,  or  both  alternately.  This  may  be  denominated  an 


106  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

earthquake  of  translation.  This  species  may  become  destructive, 
especially  in  a  secondary  way,  when  occurring  either  on  land 
or  under  the  sea,  in  such  relation  to  sea-level  as  to  cause  a 
rush  of  the  sea  upon  the  land.  With  this  discrimination  in 
view,  let  us  consider  what  causes  may  be  assigned. 

The  earthquake  of  vibration  is  evidently  caused  by  a  sud- 
den blow  or  jar  ;  the  earthquake  of  translation,  by  a  lift,  either 
permanent  or  transient. 

From  time  immemorial  earthquakes  have  been  connected 
in  the  minds  of  men  with  volcanic  action ;  but  careful  study 
shows  no  uniform  correlation  between  them.  Volcanic  action, 
moreover,  is  too  local  and  too  feeble.  Some,  in  modern  times, 
attribute  earthquakes  to  the  movements  of  the  molten  interior 
of  the  earth,  acting  against  the  walls  of  its  prison;  or  as  re- 
sulting from  some  other  mechanical  action  within  the  crust. 
This  opinion  is  supported  by  most  reputable  names — Hum- 
boldt,  Scrope,  Sir  William  Thomson.  Movements  of  trans- 
lation are  undoubtedly  produced  by  volcanic  forces.  Portions 
of  mountains  are  lifted  or  even  blown  away;  fissures  are 
caused  and  many  distinct  movements  result,  which  are  com- 
monly embraced  under  earthquakes.  Undoubtedly,  it  some- 
times happens,  also,  as  an  incident  of  volcanic  action,  that 
sudden  blows,  or  violent  explosions  occur  which  impart  vibra- 
tory tremors  on  a  narrow  scale,  in  character  like  those  which 
sometimes  spread  over  kingdoms  and  work  vast  destruction. 
But  it  can  not  be  admitted  that  earthquakes  as  best  known — 
earthquakes  of  vibration — are  ascribable  to  any  volcanic 
agency. 

It  may  be  mentioned,  also,  that  the  fall  of  large  rocks, 
mountain-slides,  great  explosions,  whether  natural  or  artificial, 
sometimes  occasion  genuine  earthquake  tremors.  The  jar  of 
a  train  of  freight  cars,  or  of  a  loaded. wagon  on  the  city  pave- 
ment, generates  real  earthquake  tremors;  but  in  all  these 
cases,  on  a  scale  too  insignificant  to  be  dignified  with  the  name. 

What  is  it,  then,  which  stands  as  the  physical  cause  of 
those  blows  or  shocks  which,  originating  at  certain  foci  in  the 
earth,  spread  radially  in  earth  vibrations  which  sometimes 


THE  UNSTABLE  LAND.  107 

level  cities?  I  venture  to  affirm,  with  Mallet,  Oldham, 
Schmidt,  Hottinger,  and  Bocardo,  that  it  is  a  sequence  of  accu- 
mulated strains  resulting  from  lateral  pressure  in  the  earth's 
crust.  There  are  two  assignable  causes  of  enormous  lateral 
pressure.  First,  as  maintained  by  Constant  Prevost,  the  solid 
crust  formed  around  a  cooling  molten  globe,  becoming  too  large 
for  the  shrunken  nucleus,  strives  to  adapt  itself  to  the  dimin- 
ished interior  (molten  or  solid).  It  is,  therefore,  laterally 
pressed.  Eelief  is  obtained,  in  part,  by  the  development  of 
wrinkles,  as  in  the  skin  of  a  shriveled  apple,  and  in  part,  by 
a  process  of  crushing  together.  The  strains  are  temporarily 
resisted,  but  soon  the  crust  must  yield.  As  the  crust  is  not 
homogeneous,  there  must  be  stronger  and  weaker  portions. 
The  motion  which  results,  in  the  crisis  of  yielding,  is  accumu- 
lated in  isolated  spots.  If  the  pressure  is  a  direct  and  simple 
crushing  pressure,  then  heat  results  from  the  crushing,  lava  is 
formed  and  the  pressure  existing  squeezes  it,  or  the  formation 
of  steam  lifts  it,  to  the  surface.  If  the  pressure  has  not  a 
simple,  crushing  tendency,  there  may  arise  a  fracture.  Then, 
in  an  instant,  the  strain  is  removed;  the  rocks  recoil,  and  the 
vibratory  motion  is  generated. 

These  lateral  strains  are  augmented  and  localized  by  the 
attractions  of  the  sun  and  moon,  which  cause  real  tidal  eleva- 
tions and  subsidences,  and  thus  bring  the  crust  to  a  snapping 
tension,  where  the  slow  processes  of  terrestrial  contraction  had 
not  yet  reached  it.  These  tidal  strains  are  greatest  when  the 
moon  and  sun  are  nearest  the  earth,  and  also  when  they  act 
together,  as  at  new  and  full  moon. 

To  add  another  word.  While  a  tornado  or  cyclone  is  at 
its  acme  of  violence,  the  barometer  is  low;  the  pressure  of 
the  atmosphere  on  the  earth  is  diminished  at  the  spot,  and 
elsewhere  correspondingly  increased  ;  the  terrestrial  crust  must 
therefore,  tend  to  develop  movements  of  the  nature  of  tides; 
and  the  predisposition  to  earthquake  actions  must  be  aug- 
mented. Observation  indicates  the  frequent  actual  coincidence 
of  earthquakes  and  cyclones.  Similarly,  a  connection  has 
been  observed  between  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  and 


108  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

the  flow  of  springs,  and  the  discharge  of  oil  or  gas  from 
natural  or  artificial  openings.  Many  springs  and  wells  show 
a  daily  periodicity  in  the  volume  of  the  flow,  corresponding 
with  the  diurnal  variations  in  the  pressure  and  temperature  of 
the  atmosphere.  Such  facts  increase  the  presumption  that 
lunar  and  solar  tidal  actions  may  affect  the  flow  of  molten 
matter,  and  also  the  distribution  of  stresses  and  movements  in 
the  earth's  crust. 


XI2C  THE  KRAMEWORKOKTHK  MOUNTAINS. 

MOUNTAIN  STRUCTURES. 

LET  us  imagine  ourselves  standing  on  the  bald  summit 
of  Mount  Marcy.  This  is  the  highest  peak  of  the  Adirondacks. 
It  rises  5,400  feet  above  sea-level.  Beneath  us,  on  every  side, 
spreads  a  wilderness  of  mountain  swells  and  intervening 
wooded  valleys.  In  the  dim  and  smoky  horizon,  in  some  direc- 
tions, we  glimpse  the  indications  of  white  villages  and  smoking 
chimneys,  and  crawling  locomotives,  and  navigated  waters ; 
but  the  aspect,  on  the  whole,  is  one  not  suggested  by  the  knowl- 
edge that  we  stand  in  the  Empire  State  with  its  five  millions 
of  citizens.  Here  nature  still  rules  in  one  of  her  wildest  moods. 

Notice  the  forms  of  these  summits.  How  symmetrically 
the  contour  sweeps  from  the  lower  and  flatter  slopes  upward. 
How  gracefully  these  mountain  swellings  dissolve  in  the  green 
ground  of  the  landscape  beneath.  Look  at  our  feet;  the 
naked  rock  lies  cracked  and  weathered  by  the  frosts  of  un- 
numbered Winters.  The  chips  of  the  mountain  strew  the 
cone  for  eight  hundred  feet  below.  There  the  mountain  firs, 
shrinking  from  the  weather,  begin  to  appear,  but  only  as 
prostrate,  crawling,  and  stunted  shrubs.  These  rocks  are 
Eozoic.  How  hard  and  crystalline  and  stubborn  they  look. 
These  black  crystals  are  pyroxene]  the  dark,  dusky  ones  are 
a  species  of  feldspar  called  labrad&rite.  The  mixture  forms  a 
rock  known  as  Norite.  Polished  surfaces  present  a  highly 
pleasing  appearance.  This  rock  forms  all  the  central  mass  of 


THE  FRAMEWORK  OF  THE  MOUNTAINS.        109 

the  mountain  under  us.  It  is  but  indistinctly  stratified ;  but 
we  believe  it  was  originally  formed  from  ocean  sediments.  It 
has  a  granitic  aspect,  and,  in  a  general  way,  we  speak  of  it 
as  having  a  granitic  character. 

It  is  not  an  easy  matter  to  travel  down  the  slope  of  this 
summit,  over  the  loose  crags,  down  into  the  border  of  the 
forest,  through  the  forest  to  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  into 
the  lumber  camps,  down  to  the  clearings,  amongst  the  log 
cabins,  on  to  the  village,  over  the  highway  and  the  railroad, 
and  ascertain  at  every  step,  what  kind  of  rock  underlies. 
There  is  too  much  rock-rubbish,  too  much  soil,  too  dense  an 
undergrowth.  But  the  geologist  must  ascertain  by  some  means. 
How  arduous  are  the  labors  by  which  the  investigator  works 
out  the  geology  of  a  wild  region.  To  read  a  report  of  results 
reached,  as  left  by  Professor  Ebenezer  Emmons,  is  easy ;  but 
when  we  visit  the  wilderness  and  test  its  difficulties,  and  re- 
flect that  Emmons  wrote  a  description  of  the  structure  of  the 
Adirondacks  forty-five  years  ago,  we  become  deeply  impressed 
by  the  energy  and  skill  brought  into  exercise  by  the  older 
geologists.  To  a  great  extent,  the  difficult  work  has  been 
accomplished. 

When,  therefore,  we  descend  from  the  summit  of  Mt. 
Marcy,  we  come,  part  way  down  the  slope,  to  massive  gneisses. 
They  rise  up  into  view  from  the  lower  levels.  They  present 
their  crumbling  and  hoary  outcrops  looking  up  toward  the 
summit  of  the  mountain,  as  if  ambitious  to  attain  the  apex, 
but  wearied  and  wasted,  and  arrested  by  the  way.  Here  they 
lie,  resting  on  their  granitic  bed.  All  around  the  mountain, 
the  upward  looking  outcrops  of  gneisses  occur.  The  head  of 
Mt.  Marcy  rises  above  the  heavy  blanketing  of  gneiss. 

Down  the  mountain  to  the  lower  levels  we  continue  our 
exploration.  Here  the  exposed  outcroppings  of  other  gneisses 
are  seen  enwrapping  the  lower  and  older  ones ;  here  schists — 
hornblendic  and  micaceous — come  into  view  in  succession, 
overlying  the  beds  whose  outcrops  are  higher  up,  and  all  dip- 
ping steeply  down ;  here  is  a  thick  bed  of  crystalline  marble, 
green-stained  with  intermingled  serpentine.  Here  are  beds  of 


110  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

iron-ore,  and  other  schists  and  conglomerates,  all  dipping  still 
down  the  slope,  and  each  new  one  in  succession  reposing  on 
the  top  of  the -last. 

Should  we  descend  the  slopes  of  the  Adiron clacks  in  a 
hundred  directions,  such  would  be  the  succession  of  the  for- 
mations— such,  at  least,  the  plan  of  the  mountain  structure, 
though  the  particular  kinds  of  gneiss  or  of  schist  would  vary 
on  different  sides.  Let  us  think  about  the  nature  of  this 
arrangement.  It  looks  as  if  the  gneiss  and  schists  had  once 
lain  horizontal,  and  the  head  of  Mt.  Marcy,  and  the  heads  of 
the  other  mountain  giants,  had  been  thrust  up  through — 
bursting  the  sheets  of  gneiss  and  schist — parting  them  to  the 
east  and  west,  the  north  and  south — continuing  to  push  up  a 
mile  toward  the  sky,  and  leaving  the  parted  borders  of  the 
bedded  rocks  far  down  the  slopes — separated  by  the  diameter 
of  the  mountain  mass.  It  looks  so — and  that  is  the  ground 
for  the  inference  that  it  was  so.  We  have  been  contempla- 
ting forces  possessed  of  the  ability  to  perform  such  a  piece  of 
work.  Kra-kat'-o-a  was  split  from  bottom  to  top  in  1882.  If 
volcanic  forces  should  prove  inadequate,  we  can  invoke  other 
forces.  We  will  invoke  them.  But  let  us  see  further  what 
there  is  to  summon  them  to  accomplish. 

We  are  strolling  upon  the  flanks  of  the  Adirondacks.  We 
are  now  on  the  borders  of  civilization.  Mt.  Marcy  looks 
down  on  us  from  the  cold  blue  sky  against  which  his  profile 
is  printed.  We  tread  now  on  another  soil.  Here  are  massive 
cliffs  of  sandstone.  If  we  wander  around  by  the  east,  we  may 
trace  the  Au  Sable  toward  its  source.  We  find  it  roaring 
through  a  cleft  in  a  gray  sandstone  with  perpendicular  walls 
one  hundred  feet  high,  and  along  a  chasm  which  splits  the 
formation  for  a  distance  of  two  miles.  This  is  the  chasm  of 
the  Au  Sable.  But  see,  this  sandstone  is  not  a  metamorphic 
rock.  It  lies  above  all  the  gneisses  and  schists.  It  is  not  so 
steeply  inclined.  Evidently  it  is  not  within  the  Eozoic  Great 
System ;  it  is  Palaeozoic.  Follow  it  as  it  stretches  under  the 
country  to  the  eastward.  It  extends  to  Lake  Champlain.  It 
reappears  on  the  Vermont  side,  and  continues  to  the  Green 


THE  FRAMEWORK  OF  THE  MOUNTAINS.        Ill 

Mountains.  If  we  carry  our  observations  to  the  north  flanks 
of  the  Adirondacks,  there  too,  we  find  this  sandstone.  The 
charming  village  of  Potsdam  is  built  on  this  sandstone — a 
classical  spot  which  has  given  its  name  to  a  formation  that 
reappears  in  all  countries.  Here  certainly,  if  nowhere  else  in 
northern  New  York,  the  geologist  receives  a  cordial  greeting 
and  geology  finds  warm  appreciators.  This  sandstone  spreads 
out  horizontally  to  the  St.  Lawrence  River.  If  we  examine 
the  Adirondack  slope  on  the  west,  the  Potsdam  sandstone  is 
found  in  its  place,  and  even  limestones  come  in  succession,  in 
higher  geological  positions  above  the  sandstone.  On  the 
south  we  still  find  the  sandstone. 

The  appearance  now  is,  that  after  the  granite  center  had 
burst  through  the  gneisses,  and  all  these  rocks  were  standing 
at  a  level  somewhat  lower  than  at  present,  the  ocean  still 
covered  the  flanks  now  overlaid  by  the  Potsdam  sandstone, 
and  on  the  bottom  of  that  ocean  the  sands  were  spread  which 
were  destined  to  become  consolidated  as  sandstone;  then,  after 
this,  there  was  a  farther  uplift  of  the  Adirondack  mass,  bring- 
ing the  Potsdam  sands  above  sea-level,  around  their  border, 
and  giving  them  also  a  tilt,  while  the  gneisses  received  an  in- 
creased tilt.  So  the  granitic  center  of  the  Adirondacks  was  at 
first  a  small  island  ;  then,  by  further  upheavals,  the  island  was 
enlarged  progressively  on  all  its  borders. 

Now  let  us  proceed  across  the  St.  Lawrence  valley.  Here 
we  find  horizontal  Potsdam  sandstone  stretching  up  and  down 
the  valley;  and  above  this,  a  thick  series  of  limestones.  Con- 
tinuing toward  the  Lauren  tide  Hills,  we  see  the  horizontal 
strata  turning  up  gently.  We  ascend  a  gradual  slope,  and 
by  and  by,  the  limestones  end.  A  steeper  ascent  is  still  under- 
laid by  the  Potsdam  sandstone.  Here  now,  is  the  end  of  the 
sandstone  and  we  step  on  schists  and  gneisses  and  crystalline 
limestones,  each  rising  from  under  the  preceding,  until  we 
reach  granitic  rocks,  which  continue  to  the  summit  of  the 
ridge.  Then  passing  still  northward,  we  meet  various  for- 
mations like  those  seen  in  ascending  the  ridge,  but  in  the  in- 
verse order.  In  fact,  the  nature  of  the  rocks,  their  altitudes 


112  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

and  their  order  of  arrangement  are  exactly  like  what  we  found 
in  descending  the  Adirondack^. 

The  Laurentian,  therefore,  has  the  same  constitution  as 
the  Adirondacks.  It  is  an  elongated  elevation,  however,  in- 
stead of  a  cluster  of  peaks.  It  presents  an  anticlinal  structure. 
The  oldest  or  bottom  rocks  are  in  the  center,  and  rise  to  the 
highest  altitude.  The  rocks  geologically  higher  in  position 
attain  to  successively  lower  and  lower  altitudes;  they  dip  down 
on  each  side  of  the  granitic  axis,  like  a  series  of  planks  lean- 
ing against  a  stone  wall. 

This  is  the  general  plan  of  a  mountain  of  upheaval.  We 
find  the  same  in  the  Blue  Kidge,  in  the  ranges  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains  and  many  others  of  the  great  ranges  of  the  country. 
Mountains,  therefore,  exist  as  long  folds  of  the  earth's  crust; 
and  very  generally,  where  one  fold  exists,  two  or  three  others 
exist  parallel  with  this,  as  in  the  Appalachians. 

It  will  be  borne  in  mind  always,  that  every  orographic  or 
mountain  feature  has  undergone  a  great  amount  of  alteration. 
The  summits  of  the  mountains  have  been  much  lowered.  The 
strata  enwrapping  their  flanks  have  been  cut  back ;  they  stretch 
to  less  distances  than  formerly  toward  the  summit.  In  many 
cases,  indeed,  we  have  room  to  conjecture  that  they  extended 
originally  over  the  summit,  and  have  been  worn  away  in  the 
course  of  ages,  uncovering  the  granitic  nucleus  only  in  later 
geological  time. 

In  some  cases,  the  erosion  of  parallel  and  contiguous  mount- 
ain crests  has  proceeded  so  far  that  the  summits  are  lower  than 
the  valleys  between  them.  The  valleys  then  become  the  mount- 
ains, and  in  place  of  the  original  mountains  are  valleys  of 
erosion.  So  we  sometimes  find  a  synclinal  structure  in  mount- 
ains, and  an  anticlinal  structure  under  valleys.  Sometimes  we 
find  a  river  cutting  through  a  mountain  from  side  to  side  and 
from  top  to  bottom.  The  Green  river  in  Wyoming,  affords  a 
striking  example.  It  cuts  through  the  15,000  feet  of  the  altitude 
of  the  Unita  Mountains.  It  seems  quite  evident  that  the  river 
was  here  before  the  mountain.  The  mountain  rose  gradually 
under  the  river,  and  as  it  rose,  the  river  sawed  its  gap  to  the 


THE  MOUNTAIN  FKAMEWORK.  113 

bottom,  and  the  walls  of  the  gap  were  left  to  rise  precipitously 
on  each  side.  Other  mountains  have  been  rent  by  fissures. 
These  generally  run  lengthwise  of  the  range — most  frequently 
along  the  center.  When  they  exist,  the  strata  on  one  side  are 
generally  found  depressed  below  the  level  of  the  corresponding 
strata  on  the  other  side.  Such  a  case  is  a  fault.  In  the  Appa- 
lachians are  faults  of  five  thousand  to  twenty  thousand  feet. 
A  greater  one  cuts  through  the  Uintas.  The  Sierra  Nevada, 
for  three  hundred  miles,  has  been  split  lengthwise  along  the 
middle,  and  the  eastern  half,  for  a  large  part  of  the  distance, 
has  gone  down  three  thousand  to  ten  thousand  feet.  So  the 
west  half  the  Wahsatch  went  down  forty  thousand  feet  for  a 
length  of  at  least  one  hundred  miles. 

Of  mountains  of  relief,  like  the  Catskills  and  the  Cumber- 
land Table  Land,  something  has  already  been  said  in  Talk  IX, 
and  nothing  more  is  necessary  here.  Mountains  composed  of 
volcanic  accumulations  are  mentioned  in  Talks  XV  and  XVI. 


.    How  THE  MOUNTAIN  KRAMEWORK  is 


MOUNTAIN    FORMATION. 

BY  what  machinery  were  these  mountain  masses  upraised? 
By  what  motive  force  was  it  actuated?  When  we  look  up 
toward  the  sky  and  see  the  form  of  Mont  Blanc  profiled 
against  the  clear  blue  —  far  away  —  far  up  where  the  white 
clouds  cap  the  mountain's  hoary  head,  we  realize  partially 
that  an  enormous  power  has  been  exerted  ;  we  reflect  that  the 
upraising  of  a  mountain  was  as  truly  a  mechanical  work  as 
the  erection  of  the  obelisk  in  Central  Park.  Let  us  try  to 
reproduce  to  imagination  the  process  by  which  Nature  builds 
the  great  mountains  —  the  great  mountains  of  upheaval. 

Generations  past,  which  had  witnessed  the  tremendous 
power  of  Vesuvius  and  ^Etna,  thought  the  volcano  adequate 
for  the  production  both  of  earthquakes  and  mountains.  It 
was  steam  and  gases  trying  to  find  vent,  they  said,  which 

10 


114  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

shook  the  ground  and  bulged  the  terrestrial  crust  into  mount- 
ain saliences.  They  had  seen  mountain  caps  blown  off,  and 
mountains  cracked  open";  they  had  even  seen  Sabriiia  and 
Graham's  Island  and  many  ^Egsean  islands  lifted  from  the 
bottom  of  the  sea,  and  sustained  at  an  elevation  of  some  hun- 
dreds of  feet.  Were  not  these  efforts  at  mountain-making  and 
unmaking?  Had  it  not  been  ascertained,  too,  in  more  recent 
times,  that  Vesuvius  and  jiEtna,  with  all  their  loftiness  and 
massiveness  are  mere  piles  of  stuff  brought  up  by  volcanoes, 
and  builtj  by  volcanic  action  into  mountain  forms  ?  Is  not 
Mt.  Hood  a  pile  of  lava?  And  who  can  affirm  that  Ranier, 
Lassen,  St.  Elias,  Popocatapetl,  Cotopaxi,  are  not  similarly 
masses  of  piled  up  lavas? 

Yes,  the  reasoning  is  good  for  a  certain  class  of  mountains. 
But  the  Adirondacks  are  not  a  pile  of  lava ;  nor  the  Lauren- 
tides;  nor  the  Appalachian  ranges;  nor  the  White  Mount- 
ains; nor  the  Rockies.  Here  has  been  lifting  to  which 
all  volcanic  work  bears  a  very  feeble  comparison.  If 
.^Etna  and  Hood  are  piles  of  volcanic  debris,  consider  how 
small  a  part  was  lifted  at  once.  The  ascent  of  the  mount- 
ain materials  has  been  like  that  of  wheat  in  the  grain 
elevator — little  at  a  time,  but  much  in  the  aggregate. 
Look  at  the  Adirondacks,  on  the  other  hand — here  is  a  vast 
framework;  all  the  parts  were  formed  and  adjusted  together 
before  the  uplift;  and  when  the  time  arrived,  the  total  mass 
was  raised  in  one  stupendous  mechanical  effort.  We  must 
seek  a  greater  power  than  the  volcano. 

It  is  not  a  trivial  problem.  It  has  puzzled  the  most  ex- 
pert of  brains.  But  I  think  you  have  made  the  acquaintance 
of  forces  and  modes  of  action  which  furnish  us  a  real  clew  to 
the  mechanism  of  mountain  making.  Your  attention  has  been 
directed  to  many  indications  of  the  presence  and  action  of 
heat  in  the  earth.  You  have  even  reached  the  inference  that 
the  earth  is  a  cooling  globe.  [But  see  further  in  Talks 
XXXVII  and  XXXVIII.]  Now,  you  have  often  witnessed 
the  power  of  heat.  When  it  enters  a  solid  or  liquid,  expan- 
sion takes  place,  and  the  power  of  expansion  surpasses  human 


THE  MOUNTAIN  FRAMEWORK.  115 

control.  When  it  leaves  a  body  contraction  ensues,  and  the 
strength  of  this  tendency  can  not  be  resisted  by  any  means  in 
our  power.  Loss  of  heat  is  always  attended  by  contraction — 
except  when  the  temperature  is  a  few  degrees  above  that  at 
which  the  body  passes  from  the  liquid  to  the  crystalline  solid 
state — for  there  is  a  certain  critical  point  at  which  reduction 
of  temperature  begins  to  be  accompanied  by  expansion,  until 
the  solid  condition  is  attained;  after  which  further  reduction 
is  attended  again  by  contraction. 

Now,  ever  since  Leibnitz,  two  hundred  years  ago,  enun- 
ciated his  theory  of  a  once  molten  earth,  geognostic  students 
have  been  considering  what  must  be  the  natural  course  of 
events  in  the  cooling  of  such  a  globe.  Constant  Prevost  ad- 
vanced a  suggestion  sound  in  theory  and  fruitful  in  conse- 
quences. That  molten  globe,  he  said,  must  have  become 
incrusted.  By  degrees  the  crust  would  thicken,  and  the  trans- 
mission of  heat  from  the  interior  would  be  retarded.  By  and 
by,  the  radiation  of  heat  from  the  exterior  would  become 
diminished  to  such  an  extent  as  to  just  equal  the  heat  received 
at  the  surface  by  transmission  through  the  crust.  That  is,  a 
constant  temperature  would  exist  at  the  surface  of  the  earth — 
a  constant  temperature  at  the  mid-zone  in  the  crust.  But  the 
interior  would  still  continue  to  lose  heat  through  the  crust, 
though  the  crust  retained  a  uniform  temperature.  It  the  interior 
did  not  supply  heat  to  the  crust,  the  latter  would  grow  colder. 

So  the  interior,  in  consequence  of  loss  of  heat  would  con- 
tract ;  but  the  crust,  losing  no  more  than  it  receives,  would 
not  contract.  That  is,  the  crust  would  become  too  large  for 
the  shrunken  nucleus.  What  would  result?  Do  you  con- 
ceive that  the  crust  would  rest  raised  above  the  nucleus, 
leaving  vacant,  or  even  steam-filled  spaces  between  the  two  ? 
Renumber  the  enormous  weight  of  the  atmosphere — fourteen 
pounds  on  every  square  inch.  Remember  the  enormous  weight 
of  the  crust,  and  the  utter  impossibility  of  its  sustaining  the 
strain  of  bulging  over  a  vacuum  of  one,  ten  or  a  hundred 
miles.  Assuredly,  the  crust  must  settle  down  as  fast  as  the 
molten  nucleus  grows  smaller. 


116  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

But  now,  in  settling  down,  its  circumference  must  con- 
stantly become  less.  How  can  its  circumference  be  made  less  ? 
Only  by  squeezing  together  from  all  directions.  There  must 
be  a  lateral  pressure  experienced  at  every  point.  It  arises 
from  the  weight  of  the  crust,  and  is  proportional  to  the  weight 
of  the  crust.  If  the  crust  is  thus  subjected  everywhere  to  an 
enormous  lateral  pressure,  then,  either  the  parts  of  the  crust  must 
be  mashed  together,  producing  a  thickening  in  proportion  to  dimi- 
nution of  circumference  ;  or  else,  if  the  crust  is  too  solid  to  be 
crushed,  it  will  wrinkle — just  as  the  skin  of  an  apple  is  wrinkled, 
when  the  pulp  within  shrinks  through  the  evaporation  of  juice. 

Now,  suppose  that  stage  of  things  has  been  reached.  Some 
wrinkles  have  made  their  appearance  on  the  surface  of  the 
earth.  They  are  the  beginnings  of  mountains.  If  ocean 
waters  rest  now  on  the  earth's  surface,  they  may,  indeed,  totally 
cover  these  wrinkles — but  they  are  the  germs  of  mountains, 
nevertheless.  As  long  as  the  earth's  interior  continues  to  lose 
heat  and  contract,  so  long  wrinkling  tendencies  will  exist. 
But,  after  a  set  of  wrinkles  has  been  first  developed,  the 
wrinkling  tendency  afterward  finds  relief  in  the  same 
wrinkles — in  the  enlargement  of  the  first  wrinkles.  The  power 
to  enlarge  and  further  elevate  the  old  wrinkles  will  be  attained 
before  the  power  to  initiate  wrinkles  in  new  places.  In  this 
way,  the  germinal  mountains  would  grow.  In  this  way,  the 
first  uplifted  masses  would  afterward  be  uplifted  higher,  as 
new  relief  had  to  be  sought.  Did  we  not  observe  the  succes- 
sive stages  of  uplift  in  our  study  of  the  Adirondacks  ? 

There  is  no  volcanic  uplifting  here.  It  is  true,  however, 
we  may  get  volcanic  phenomena.  The  crust  presses  with 
enormous  weight  on  the  molten  ocean.  Compare  it  with  a 
field  of  ice  a  mile  square  and  three  feet  thick,  floating  on  a 
lake.  If  you  make  a  hole  through  the  ice,  the  water  rises  in 
the  hole,  nearly  to  the  surface  of  the  ice.  If  the  hole  is  sud- 
denly made,  the  water  may  rise  with  such  velocity  that  its 
momentum  will  carry  it  quite  to  the  surface,  or  over  the  sur- 
face. This  is  like  an  outflow  of  volcanic  matter  through  a 
fissured  crust.  Suppose  a  great  number  of  piles  of  ice  be 


THE  MOUNTAIN  FRAMEWORK.  117 

heaped  up  on  this  ice  field  in  various  parts.  Then,  if  a  hole 
be  pierced  through,  the  water  will  rise  with  increased  likeli- 
hood to  overflow.  Now  these  piles  of  ice  exert  an  effect  similar 
to  that  of  upraised  wrinkles  in  the  crust.  So  it  appears  that 
volcanoes  may  be  an  incident  of  the  earth's  contraction,  as 
before  stated,  and  that  mountain-making  may  be  another  in- 
cident of  the  same.  But  there  is  more  to  be  said.  In  many 
places  must  occur  some  crushing  together.  In  the  mountain 
folds  where  the  internal  constitution  and  firmness  have  been 
strained  by  flexures,  there  must  be  weakness ;  and  there  must 
occur  some  of  that  mashing  together  which  develops  heat,  inde- 
pendently of  any  supply  from  the  molten  interior.  It  is  quite 
intelligible,  therefore,  that  a  mountain  wrinkle  or  fold  is  a 
zone  where  heat  must  be  generated,  even  if  lava  is  not  pro- 
duced, and  does  not  escape  from  within.  Along  a  mountain 
fold,  in  other  words,  is  a  zone  where  the  rocks  must  be  sub- 
jected to  that  baking  or  semifusion  in  connection  with  water, 
which  produces  the  changes  called  metamorphism. 

It  would  not  be  proper  to  leave  the  subject  in  this  state, 
though  you  have  already  the  gist  of  the  theory  of  mountain 
making.  If  you  observe  shrewdly,  you  will  discover  two 
features  in  our  mountains  on  which  no  light  has  been  thrown. 
You  may  experience  some  difficulty  in  understanding  the  ex- 
planations. But  let  us  try.  You  know  well  that  all  our  great 
mountains  exist  as  long  ranges — mostly  as  groups  of  ranges, 
and  that  the  prevailing  direction  of  mountain  trends  is  approx- 
imately north  and  south.  Now,  when  we  consider  the  wrinkles 
on  the  skin  of  a  withered  apple,  we  find  them  short,  and  hav- 
ing also,  no  uniformity  of  trend.  The  analogy  is  imperfect. 
There  must  have  been  some  other  cause  than  uniform  shrinkage 
to  develop  the  actual  mountain  folds. 

Let  us  glance  black  over  the  early  history  of  the  earth. 
They  tell  us  it  once  revolved  much  more  rapidly  on  its  axia 
than  at  present.  It  is  not  difficult  to  understand  why  its  rota* 
tion  has  been  retarded,  but  wre  will  pass  that  by.  If  the  rotation 
has  slackened,  then  the  equatorial  protuberance  has  diminished. 
That  is,  the  equatorial  circumference  has  been  shortened  more 


118  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

than  the  polar ;  and  consequently  there  has  been  more  lateral 
pressure  around  the  equatorial  region.  That  pressure  too  was 
exerted  east  and  west,  and  that  was  just  the  direction  which 
would  give  to  the  wrinkles  a  north  and  south  trend,  and  a  con- 
siderable elongation.  Besides  this,  there  was  a  powerful  tidal 
attraction  exerted  by  the  moon  (see  also  Talk  XXXVIII). 
That  body  was  then  much  nearer  the  earth  than  now,  and 
exerted  important  influences  on  the  earth.  In  our  times,  it 
raises  the  ocean  and  the  whole  hemisphere  in  a  tidal  swell ; 
then,  though  no  ocean  existed,  the  tidal  swell  was  raised  with 
the  forming  film  over  its  surface.  But  the  rise  of  the  swell 
was  not  instantaneous ;  it  reached  its  height  after  the  moon 
had  passed  the  meridian  to  the  west,  and  the  moon  acting  on 
it  from  that  position,  pulled  the  apex  slightly  westward,  and 
thus  established  changed  conditions  in  the  crust  which  neces- 
sarily had  a  north  and  south  trend,  and  contributed  something 
to  give  the  wrinkles  which  were  then  forming,  the  north  and 
south  axes  which  we  see  in  mountain  ranges. 

Another  peculiarity  of  mountains  is  the  greater  thickness 
of  the  formations  and  the  greater  proportion  of  fragmental 
strata.  This  has  led  some  to  conceive  that  the  materials  of 
mountains  were  accumulated  in  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  in  sit- 
uations to  which  ocean  currents  brought  unusual  quantities  of 
coarse  deposits  from  neighboring  continental  shores.  It  is  sup- 
posed that  these  sediments  depressed  the  bottom  and  thus  pre- 
served such  depths  as  would  continue  to  invite  the  currents  to 
a  continuance  of  their  work,  until  the  mountain  mass  was 
completed.  The  sinking  of  the  great  synclinal  must  have 
subjected  the  materials  to  the  metamorphic  influence  of  inter- 
nal heat,  even  without  any  crushing  together.  Probably,  in 
this  state  of  things,  metamorphism  resulted  from  both  causes. 
Then  in  due  tine,  the  synclinal  was  upraised,  with  additional 
crushing,  and  the  mountain  was  completed. 

These  are  but  glimpses  of  the  theory  of  mountain-making  ; 
but  I  hope  they  will  stimulate  you  to  further  study.  Let  me 
recommend  the  re-reading  of  this  Talk,  after  Talk  XXXVIII. 


DOWN  IN  A  MINE.  119 


XXI.   DOWN  IN 

MODES   OF   OCCURRENCE   OF   THE   METALS. 

WHO  has  not  heard  of  the  Comstock  Lode  ?  Who  has 
not  read  something  about  the  hundreds  of  millions  of  gold 
and  silver  extracted  from  its  deep  depositories  ?  What  names 
in  the  annals  of  mining  enterprise  are  more  familiar  than 
those  of  Gould  and  Curry,  William  M.  Stewart,  Adolf  Sutro, 
James  G.  Fair,  J.  W.  Mackey,  John  P.  Jones,  William 
Sharon  ?  What  is  the  Comstock  Lode  ?  It  is  a  body  of  gold- 
and-silver-bearing  mineral  matter  lying  in  the  Virginia  range, 
a  spur  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  about  25  or  30  miles  east  of  the 
Sierra  crest.  The  range  trends  a  little  east  of  north,  and  the 
lode  appears  to  be  the  filling  of  an  imperfect  fissure  four  or 
five  miles  long — the  principal  part  of  which  is  about  10,000 
feet.  The  fissure  extends  into  the  mountain  with  an  eastward 
dip  varying  from  33°  to  45°.  At  the  north  end  it  divides 
into  three  or  more  diverging  and  somewhat  irregular  branches, 
and  at  the  south  end  it  terminates  in  two  branches.  The 
fissure  has,  at  its  broadest  part,  along  the  middle,  a  width 
of  about  600  feet,  which  becomes  1,400  feet  when  measured 
along  the  sloping  surface ;  and  it  narrows  toward  each  end. 
The  lode  also  narrows  downward,  and  at  about  1,800  feet  ver- 
tically, has  a  thickness  of  about  120  feet.  The  part  above 
this  seems  to  be  formed  from  two  fissures  and  the  wedge- 
shaped  mass  of  "country  rock"  included  between  them. 
This  wedge  of  country  rock  was  cut  off  from  the  east  side, 
where  the  rock  is  diabase — that  is,  composed  of  grains  of 
augite  and  a  plagioclase  feldspar.  On  the  west  side,  the 
country  rock  is  diorite — that  is  composed  of  hornblende  and  a 
plagioclase  feldspar.  In  miners'  language  a  fragment  of 
country  rock  included  in  a  lode  is  a  "  horse."  The  fissure 
along  each  side  of  this  enormous  "  horse"  is  filled  chiefly  with 
quartz.  The  east  wall  in  this  case,  is  the  "  hanging  wall," 
and  the  west,  is  the  "foot-wall."  The  hanging  wall  is  much 
decomposed,  and  the  decomposition  extends  through  the  dia- 
base for  five  thousand  feet. 


120  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

The  contents  of  the  lode  are  somewhat  miscellaneously  dis- 
posed. Besides  the  great  prismatic  horse  just  mentioned,  are 
many  smaller  fragments  of  country  rock,  together  with  clay, 
quartz  and  silver-bearing  minerals.  Most  of  the  ore  contains 
both  silver  and  gold,  but  the  proportions  of  the  two  metals  vary 
in  different  parts  of  the  lode.  From  the  whole  lode  the  yield  of 
gold  has  been  43  per  cent  and  of  silver  57  per  cent.  The 
richest  quartz  lies  nearest  the  hanging  wall.  A  mass  of  ore 
rich  enough  to  pay  for  working  is  styled  a  "  bonanza."  An  ore 
must  afford  fifteen  or  twenty  dollars  a  ton  to  pay.  The  cele- 
brated "great  bonanza"  averaged  $80  to  the  ton.  It  was 
composed  of  crushed  quartz,  including  fragments  of  country 
rock,  and  carried  a  few  hard,  narrow,  vein-like  seams  of  very 
rich  black  ores;  while  nearly  the  whole  mass  of  the  crushed 
or  "sugar  quartz"  was  impregnated,  to  a  moderate  extent, 
with  native  gold  and  stephanite,  which  is  an  arsenical  sulphide 
of  silver  known  sometimes  as  brittle  silver  glance.  Even  the 
country  rock  was  also  charged  with  these  ores. 

It  would  not  be  proper  to  enter  further  into  particulars  of 
this  kind.  But  glance  a  moment  at  the  mechanical  operations. 
Perhaps  you  think  the  miners  attacked  the  wonderful  Lode  at 
its  outcrops,  and  followed  it  down  on  a  slope  into  the  earth. 
Not  at  all.  As  soon  as  this  method  of  exploration  had  re- 
vealed the  position  and  promise  of  the  lode,  great  capitalists 
laid  out  the  work  according  to  methods  sanctioned  by  centu- 
ries of  experience  in  other  countries.  Going  some  hundreds 
of  feet  to  the  east  of  the  lode,  a  vertical  shaft  would  be  sunk 
until  the  lode  was  struck.  At  frequent  intervals,  horizontal 
passages  were  excavated  westward  to  the  lode,  and  through 
the  lode  to  the  foot  wall.  From  these,  other  passages  or  gal- 
leries were  excavated  along  the  lode.  From  these  numerous 
galleries,  the  various  ore-bodies  were  discovered  and  worked 
out,  within  the  limits  of  the  claim.  There  is  a  large  number 
of  claims  or  properties  along  the  lode,  and  there  are  twenty- 
four  shafts  sunken  on  the  east.  In  course  of  time,  the  va- 
rious mining  operations  have  been  brought  into  some  degree 
of  concert  and  system.  Without  this,  the  difficulties  of  the 


DOWN  IN  A  MINE.  12] 

tieep  exploitation  of  the  lode  would  have  been  insuperable 
The  country  has  thus  become  honey-combed  to  a  depth  of  3,000 
feet.  The  total  length  of  the  galleries  driven  exceeds  15C? 
miles. 

Heat  and  water  have  presented  obstacles  most  formidable. 
The  high  temperature  of  the  rock  and  of  the  water  escap- 
ing from  it  are  very  extraordinary.  In  the  Clifford  mine 
in  Wales,  water  heated  to  125°  has  been  encountered.  But 
on  the  3,000  foot  level  of  the  Comstock,  floods  of  water  have 
entered  the  mines  at  170°.  Water  at  this  temperature  will 
cook  food,  and  will  destroy  the  human  epidermis.  A  partial 
immersion  in  it  is  therefore  fatal.  The  atmosphere,  as  a  con- 
sequence, is  not  only  intolerably  hot,  but  is  saturated  with 
vapor.  From  prolonged  exposure  to  these  unnatural  condi- 
tions, many  miners  have  lost  their  lives.  In  the  Savage  mine, 
in  1879,  the  miners  struck  a  hot  spring  having  a  temperature 
of  157°,  and  the  incline  was  filled  with  scalding  vapor ;  picks 
could  only  be  handled  with  gloves,  and  rags  soaked  in  ice- 
water  were  wrapped  about  the  iron  drills.  Occasionally,  per- 
spiration would  cease,  the  miner  would  begin  to  talk  in  a 
rambling  fashion,  and  his  death  would  soon  ensue,  unless  re- 
moved by  his  comrades  to  a  place  of  relief.  The  conditions 
of  mining  are  greatly  ameliorated  by  most  efficient  ventila- 
tion through  the  150  miles  of  galleries  and  the  shafts.  Still, 
the  air  leaves  the  mines  nearly  saturated  with  aqueous  vapor, 
and  at  an  average  temperature  of  92°. 

The  increase  of  downward  temperature  here  greatly  ex- 
ceeds the  general  average.  In  one  shaft  at  100  feet,  the  tem- 
perature was  50°;  at  200  feet,  55°;  at  500  feet,  68°;  at  800 
feet,  76°;  at  845  feet,  80°;  at  1,100  feet,  92°.  In  another 
shaft,  at  1,500  feet  the  temperature  was  105°;  at  1,600  feet, 
107°;  at  1,700  feet,  108°;  at  1,800  feet,  111°;  at  1,900  feet, 
112°;  at  2,000  feet,  113°;  at  2,230  feet,  121°.  Mr.  Church, 
who  investigated  this  subject  very  carefully,  estimated  the 
mean  temperature  on  the  2,000  foot  level,  at  130°.  The 
water  at  170°,  with  which  the  Gold  Hill  mines  were  flooded 
i  the  winter  of  1880-1,  entered  on  the  3,000  foot  level,  and 

11 


122  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

was  struck  at  3,080  feet.  All  the  data  together  indicate  an 
increase  of  temperature  of  one  degree  for  28  feet  of  depth. 
This  abnormal  increase  appears  confined  to  the  vicinity  of  the 
lode.  The  great  Sutro  Tunnel,  which  approaches  the  east 
wall  at  a  depth  of  1,900  feet,  indicates  a  great  increase  of 
temperature  in  approaching  the  wall.  At  the  distance  of  128 
feet,  the  temperature  is  110°;  at  1,048  feet,  108°;  at  2,052 
feet,  96°;  at  3,651  feet,  89°;  at  5,008  feet,  87°;  at  7,175 
feet,  85°;  at  9,512  feet,  83°;  at  10,849  feet  79°.  This  great 
increase  of  temperature  can  not  be  attributed  to  the  increase 
in  depth  of  the  tunnel  below  the  earth's  surface.  The  ex- 
traordinary temperature,  therefore,  is  a  phenomenon  of  the  lode. 
It  appears  to  rise  from  some  greater  depth,  and  the  indications 
point  to  ascending  water  as  the  probable  agent  in  bringing  up 
the  heat  from  a  deeper  region.  It  acts,  therefore,  like  an 
enormous  hot  spring.  Thirty  miles  away  is  the  Sierra  Nevada 
range,  and  from  the  altitude  of  perpetual  snow,  the  eastward 
dipping  strata  descend  into  the  earth  for  a  great  depth.  The 
water  which  accompanies  them  reaching  the  deep  portion  of 
the  Comstock  Lode,  their  course  is  in  part  arrested  by  the 
impervious  clays.  When  reached  therefore  by  the  mining 
operations,  the  relief  of  pressure  causes  them  to  rise  from 
depths  much  below  the  bottom  of  the  works. 

The  waters  just  mentioned  constitute  the  second  powerful 
obstacle  to  mining  on  the  lode.  In  the  deeper  works,  the 
volume  has  assumed  portentous  proportions.  The  water  was 
originally  pumped  to  the  surface  through  the  vertical  shafts. 
Steam-pumps  of  ever  increasing  capacity,  however,  proved 
successively  inadequate  to  the  demand.  Hence,  the  daring 
enterprise  of  Adolf  Sutro  conceived  the  tunnel  which  bears 
his  name,  and  which,  through  thirteen  years  of  opposition,  he 
fought  to  successful  completion  in  1878,  at  a  cost  of  two  mil- 
lion dollars.  The  outlet  of  the  tunnel  is  20,000  feet  from  the 
east  wall  of  the  lode.  From  the  entrance,  a  lateral  branch  is 
extended  north  along  the  lode  4,403  feet  (to  October,  1880), 
and  another  lateral,  southward,  4,114  feet.  The  tunnel  is 
seven  feet  in  height,  and  eight  feet  in  width  in  the  clear,  with 


DOWN  IN  A  MINE.  123 

a  grade  of  one  inch  in  100  feet.  In  the  bottom  is  a  drainage 
channel  five  feet  wide  and  three  and  one-half  feet  deep.  After 
the  mining  companies  began  pumping  water  into  the  tunnel, 
over  three  and  a  half  million  gallons  were  discharged  every 
twenty-four  hours.  During  1880,  the  aggregate  was  over  a 
billion  and  a  quarter  gallons,  and  it  was  estimated  that  double 
this  quantity  would  be  discharged  when  connection  should  be 
made  with  all  the  mines.  The  temperature  of  the  mixed 
water  entering  the  drain  is  137°,  and  its  temperature  at  the 
mouth  is  118°.  Little  use  is  made  at  present  of  this  stream 
of  water,  amazing  equally  for  volume  and  for  temperature. 
It  is  apparent,  however,  that  this  vast  stream  of  hot  water 
possesses  capabilities  of  usefulness  which  American  enterprise 
will  not  permit  to  run  to  waste  indefinitely. 

During  twenty  years,  up  to  1881,  the  bullion  yield  of  the 
Comstock  Lode  had  been  $306,000,000.  Since  1874,  business 
on  the  lode  has  been  much  depressed. 

Investigations  have  been  made  for  the  purpose  of  ascer- 
taining the  source  of  the  precious  metals  in  the  lode.  Mr. 
George  F.  Becker  has  shown  the  presence  of  gold  and  silver 
in  the  unaltered  diabase  rock  on  the  east  of  the  lode,  and 
demonstrated  it  practically  absent  from  that  part  contiguous 
to  the  lode  which  has  undergone  decomposition.  It  results 
from  his  studies,  that  after  the  region  had  been  shattered  by 
earthquake  disturbances,  floods  of  heated  waters  rose  through 
the  rocks,  carrying  carbonic  and  sulphydric  acids,  and  satur- 
ating the  east  country,  dissolving  out  silica  and  metallic  salts, 
and  redepositing  them  again  in  the  spaces  comparatively  open. 
He  finds  by  calculation  that  the  total  metal  taken  from  the 
lode  is  not  in  excess  of  that  originally  contained  in  the 
diabase  on  the  east,  within  the  region  now  occupied  by  the 
decomposed  rock. 

This  explanation  will  apply  to  the  accumulation  of  ore  in 
veins  of  a  more  typical  character.  The  Comstock  Lode  can 
scarcely  be  called  a  "true  vein"  in  the  accepted  sense.  A 
vein  proper  is  a  fissure  extending  to  a  great  depth  in  the  earth, 
and  having  generally  a  considerable  longitudinal  extent,  with 


124  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

a  width  varying  from  a  few  inches  to  several  feet,  and  with 
its  contents  often  arranged  in  layers  upon  each  of  the  two 
walls,  in  the  same  order  from  the  wall.  Each  of  these  layers 
is  called  a  comb,  and  the  whole  is  styled  the  gangue.  The 
metalliferous  layer  is  the  ore.  Many  of  the  most  important 
Old  World  mines  are  based  on  true  veins.  Many,  also,  in 
America;  but  in  many  of  the  most  celebrated  mines",  the 
mode  of  occurrence  of  the  ore  is  different. 

In  the  Eureka  mining  district,  in  Central  Nevada,  we  have 
a  regular  succession  of  strata  consisting  of  limestones,  shales, 
and  quartzites,  ranging  from  the  Cambrian  to  the  lower  car- 
boniferous, but  mingled  with  porphyritic  eruptions  and  all 
shattered  by  a  process  of  faulting.  The  silver-bearing  lead 
OBe  is  found  imbedded  in  the  lower  Carboniferous  Limestone, 
within  masses  of  hydrous  iron  oxide.  The  deposits  are  dis- 
covered and  worked  out  by  a  regular  system  of  mining 
through  shafts  and  galleries;  though,  in  the  works  of  the 
Richmond  company,  these  formalities  are  discarded,  and  the 
deposits  are  reached  and  worked  out  by  the  shortest  cuts.  It 
can  scarcely  be  said  that  the  ore  occurs  here  in  veins.  It  lies 
in  masses  having  cavities  above.  Its  origin  is  from  below ; 
but  the  stratified  rocks  have  not  served  as  its  source.  But 
the  quartz-porphyry  of  the  region,  by  leaching  with  hot  alka- 
line waters,  may  have  afforded  the  ore  ;  and  this  is  thought 
by  Curtis  to  have  been  its  probable  source. 

The  silver-bearing  galena  of  Leadville,  in  Colorado,  ac- 
cording to  Emmons,  has  a  similar  mode  of  occurrence.  The 
deposit  of  the  silver-bearing  minerals  took  place  in  the  lowest 
member  of  the  Carboniferous  System.  They  were  derived 
from  circulating  waters,  which  obtained  them  in  passing 
through  eruptive  rocks.  How  introduced  into  the  eruptive 
rocks  is  a  matter  for  speculation. 

In  the  lead-producing  region  of  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  and  Illinois, 
the  galena  and  blende  occur  as  a  lining  on  the  walls  of  cavities 
or  caverns  in  a  magnesian  limestone  of  upper  Cambrian  age. 
In  Missouri,  similar  cavities  in  the  Lower  Magnesian  Limestone, 
of  lower  Cambrian  age,  are  found  lined  with  galena  and  quartz. 


THE  KING  OF  METALS.  125 


KING  OF" 

IRON    AND   ITS   GEOLOGY. 

THE  most  useful  of  the  metals  is  most  abundant  and  most 
universal.  Iron  is  found  in  formations  of  every  age,  from 
the  Laurentian  of  the  Eozoic  to  the  Quaternary  and  even  the 
bogs  which  are  forming  in  the  age  of  man  (Compare  Talk  V.) 
As  Iron  has  its  innumerable  uses  wherever  man  makes  his 
dwelling  on  the  earth,  so  Providence  has  distributed  the  metal 
to  all  communities.  It  may  be  of  interest  to  point  out  the 
fact  that  we  find  iron  most  useful,  not  because  most  abundant 
and  most  accessible,  but  because  its  properties  give  it  preemi- 
nent superiority.  Gold  and  silver  and  platinum  are  wanting 
in  the  hardness  and  rigidity  which  suit  iron  to  many  of  its 
most  important  adaptations.  Neither  of  these  metals  could 
be  made  into  useful  rails  for  the  steam  train  to  move  on. 
Neither  would  furnish  a  tool  having  the  edge  and  temper  of 
fine  cutlery.  Iron  has  been  brought  so  universally  into  sub- 
servience to  human  wants,  not  because  it  is  available,  but  be- 
cause it  is  at  once  most  suitable  and  most  available.  The  wide 
applications  of  iron  are  not  the  outcome  of  any  fortuitous  cir- 
cumstances, but  a  result  of  coordinations  planned  in  the  con- 
stitution of  things. 

Iron  is  almost  universally  disseminated,  as  a  constituent, 
through  the  rocks  and  minerals.  It  sometimes  imparts  a 
black,  and  sometimes  a  red  or  yellowish  color;  and  many 
times  its  presence  is  unannounced  by  any  color.  This  red  soil 
which,  in  some  regions,  prevails  extensively,  is  colored  by 
iron.  This  red  sandstone  is  colored  by  iron,  this  red  shale, 
this  red  brick  —  like  this  red  rust  on  the  stove-pipe.  This  yel- 
low precipitate  in  the  bottom  of  the  stream  is  the  same  with 
water  in  combination.  These  are  oxides.  Now  please,  don't 
be  impatient  at  the  mention  of  a  chemical  term.  They  hold 
all  the  oxygen  which  the  iron  can  take,  and  hence  they  are 
called  peroxides.  But  the  yellow  oxide  holds  water  also,  and 
hence  is  known  as  a  hydrated  peroxide.  Now  follow  this  hy- 
drated  peroxide  —  this  yellow  ocher  —  down  to  the  bog  which  the 


126  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

water  saturates.  Here  is  black  muck — a  fine  peaty  material — 
but  it  is  colored  and  charged  with  this  ocherous  deposit. 
After  some  years,  the  peaty  matter  decays,  and  disappears,  to 
some  extent.  Then  we  see  the  iron  compound  aggregated 
and  compacted  in  irregular  masses.  It  has  now  become  60^7 
iron  ore.  It  is  a  kind  of  limonite,  so-called.  It  can  now  be 
smelted  in  a  furnace  and  the  pure  iron  extracted. 

If  this  swamp  should  be  sunken  below  sea-level,  and  heavy 
layers,  of  marine  sediments  spread  over  it,  the  bog  ore  would 
be  compressed  into  a  compact  stratum.  Then  if  all  these  for- 
mations should  be  converted  to  solid  rock,  our  bed  of  bog  ore 
would  be  exactly  such  a  bed  of  limonite  as  we  actually  find 
in  some  situations  deep  in  the  rocks.  It  would  be  an  old  fossil 
swamp.  But  suppose  some  thousands  of  feet  of  sediments  should 
be  piled  over  it.  Then  the  heat  of  the  earth's  interior  would 
come  up  and  bake  the  ore-bed.  Very  likely  the  water  would 
be  expelled  from  our  limonite,  and  it  would  become  simply  a 
peroxide — it  would  assume  a  red  color — it  would  be  hcematite, 
which  means  blood-red  ore.  Now  such  beds  of  haematite  form 
many  of  our  most  valuable  deposits  of  iron  ore.  Much  of  the 
ore  in  the  Lake  Superior  region  is  of  this  kind — also  in  North- 
ern New  York  and  in  other  regions.  But  if  this  old  hsema- 
tite  is  left  exposed  to  water  for  some  years — if  the  bed  be- 
comes soaked  with  water,  it  changes  back  to  limonite;  it 
becomes  yellow  and  somewhat  soft.  The  miners  sometimes 
call  it  "soft  hsematite."  It  is  easily  quarried  and  easily 
smelted,  and  every  body  likes  it — though  ton  for  ton  of  ore, 
it  contains  less  iron  than  hard  or  true  haematite. 

I  do  not  assert  that  all  limonite  and  hsematite  have  come 
into  existence  in  this  way.  But  I  am  sure  this  theory  is  highly 
plausible  for  some  beds  of  iron  ore.  But  now,  I  have  noticed  iron 
ores  in  such  situations  that  perhaps  a  different  explanation  is 
more  reasonable.  I  have  seen  great  masses  of  iron  ores  inclosed 
in  the  midst  of  great  stratified  formations.  The  ore-masses  are 
huge  lenticular  accumulations — sometimes  of  great  purity, 
sometimes  mixed  with  rocky  matter,  sometimes  bounded  ab- 
ruptly, and  sometimes  blending  gradually  with  the  contiguous 


THE  KING  OF  METALS.  127 

strata.  The  ores  occur  in  this  way  at  Lake  Superior.  Such 
masses  of  ore  are  almost  always  in  crystalline  inetaraorphic 
rocks.  They  have  been  heated — probably  subjected  to  the 
action  of  hot  water. 

There  is  another  species  of  iron  ore  very  commonly  asso- 
ciated with  these.  It  is  magnetite.  This  is  composed  partly 
of  peroxide  of  iron  and  partly  of  protoxide  of  iron — that  is, 
iron  with  only  one  proportion  of  oxygen  combined  with  it. 
Magnetite  is  richer,  therefore,  than  hematite — ton  for  ton  of 
ore  it  contains  more  iron.  While  powdered  haematite  is  red, 
and  powdered  limonite,  brownish  yellow,  powdered  magnetite 
is  black.  Magnetite  attracts  the  magnetic  needle.  "Lode- 
stone"  is  magnetite — so-called,  probably,  because  it  leads  by 
its  attraction.  Now,  magnetite  is  often  found  in  great  im- 
bedded masses,  like  haematite,  and  is  regarded  one  of  the 
most  desirable  of  ores.  Often  haematite  and  magnetite  are 
mingled  together  in  the  same  bed;  and  the  indication  is,  that 
one  is  capable  of  conversion  into  the  other. 

We  often  find,  also,  considerable  formations  in  which 
much  iron  ore  exists  in  a  disseminated  state,  imparting  a 
highly  ferruginous  character  to  the  rock,  but  constituting 
only  a  very  "lean  ore."  It  may  be  a  haematitic  quartzite  or 
a  silicious  haematite.  We  find  all  stages  of  transition  from 
pure  ore  masses  to  simple  rock.  The  theory  is  often  suggested 
to  me  by  the  conditions  under  which  these  metamorphic  ores  ex- 
ist, that  they  are  simply  accumulations  of  ores  gathered  together 
from  wide  contiguous  regions  in  the  rock.  It  seems  settled 
that  ores  of  lead,  zinc,  and  silver  are  thus  eliminated  from  the 
country  rock,  as  was  explained  in  the  last  Talk.  Hot,  alka- 
line waters  are  supposed  to  have  had  principal  agency  in  the 
work.  But  where  the  native  metals  occur,  as  gold,  silver,  or 
copper,  we  must  suppose  that  a  dry  fusing  heat  has  been 
present  to  reduce  the  ores  previously  formed,  or  drive  together 
metallic  particles  disseminated  through  the  rock;  or  we  must 
suppose  that  an  electro-chemical  deposition  has  taken  place 
from  a  metalliferous  solution,  as  in  the  electro-plating  process. 
In  some  way,  at  least,  particles  of  a  particular  kind  become 


128  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

aggregated  in  "veins,"  in  "lodes,"  in  "segregations;"  and  thus 
the  huge  lenticular  masses  of  haematite  may  have  been  formed. 

Perhaps  this  theory  is  sustained  by  the  relations  of  iron  ores 
to  the  stratification.  Often  all  stratification  is  obscure  or 
wanting;  often  the  stratification  of  the  country  rock  can  be 
traced  through  the  ore-body ;  not  unfrequently  the  ore-mass  is 
a  vast  stratified  formation.  Pilot  Kuob,  in  Missouri,  is  a 
great  iron-schist — a  schistose  formation  in  which  the  once  dis- 
seminated iron  particles  appear  to  have  been  driven  by  some 
agency,  into  a  particular  part  of  the  formation.  In  this  case, 
the  richest  part  of  the  formation  is  at  the  pinnacle  of  the 
knob,  and  the  schist  decreases  in  richness  as  we  descend  to 
the  base. 

Now,  there  are  two  suggestions  in  reference  to  the  way  in 
which  iron  ore  particles  have  been  accumulated — first,  fossili- 
zation  of  ancient  iron-bogs  ;  second,  segregation.  If  the  great 
masses  found  in  metamorphic  strata  seem  rather  to  be  the  results 
of  segregation,  some  of  the  younger  iron  deposits  appear  to  be 
of  the  nature  of  fossilized  swamps.  Probably,  too,  some  rich 
stratified  ores,  like  those  back  of  Milwaukee,  and  those  near 
Rochester,  New  York,  were  precipitated  in  shallow  seas — the 
iron  brought  in  by  springs.  This  is  a  third  suggestion. 

There  is  still  another  way  in  which  iron  combinations  ap- 
pear to  accumulate.  It  is  a  modification  of  the  segregation 
process.  You  have  seen,  sometimes,  in  a  yellowish  or  reddish 
sandstone — that  is,  a  ferruginous  sandstone — some  concentric 
bands  of  a  deeper  color — bands  formed  by  an  increased 
amount  of  oxide  of  iron.  Now  observe  that  the  lines  of 
stratification  of  the  rock  pass  quite  through  these  spheroidal 
forms.  It  is  manifest,  therefore,  that  the  spheroidal  aggrega- 
tions took  place  after  the  sediments  were  laid  down — after 
the  rock  was  formed.  If  so,  then  the  iron  material  must  have 
moved  through  the  consolidated  rock.  How  did  it  move? 
Could  solid  particles  of  iron-oxide  travel  from  all  directions 
toward  a  common  center,  and  all  halt  at  a  common  distance 
from  that  center?  Evidently  not,  only  pure  water  or  clear 
solutions  could  thus  move.  We  may,  therefore,  conclude  that 


THE  KING  OF  METALS.  129 

the  iron  was  transported  and  accumulated  in  spheroidal  or 
concretionary  forms  in  a  state  of  solution  hi  water.  It  must, 
therefore,  have  existed  as  a  protoxide,  and  must  have  com- 
bined with  further  oxygen  or  with  carbonic  acid  subsequently. 
When  combined  with  the  latter,  it  forms  iron  carbonate,  and 
this  is  one  of  the  ores  of  iron.  As  an  ore,  it  is  siderite.  It 
possesses  various  degrees  of  purity.  Often  it  occurs  as  a  con- 
cretion five  to  eight  inches  long,  formed  in  the  rock  as  I  have 
just  explained.  It  may  thus  embrace  much  sand  or  clayey 
matter,  and  this  is  the  condition  in  which  the  siderite  nodules 
or  "  clay  iron  stones"  are  found  in  the  coal  measures  and 
other  formations. 

So  you  perceive  that  iron  ores  do  not  occur  in  proper 
veins.  They  are  isolated  masses,  or  they  are  strata.  They  are 
not  mined  out  through  shafts  and  drifts  and  chambers,  like 
the  ores  of  gold  and  silver,  but  mostly  in  open  excavations. 
In  Salisbury,  Connecticut,  the  excavations  extend  into  cav- 
ernous, deranged  stratified  rocks,  and  many  of  the  cavities  are 
lined  with  a  black,  polished  coating  of  ore  which  when 
scratched  is  yellow,  and  therefore  limonite.  This  limonite  has 
been  in  solution.  It  has  filtered  through  the  interstices  of 
the  formation.  In  many  of  the  cavities  are  beautiful  stalac- 
titic  forms  hanging  from  the  roof,  or  stretching  from  roof  to 
floor.  These  are  much  sought  as  fine  specimens  for  the 
cabinet. 

The  mean  specific  gravity  of  the  whole  earth  is  twice  that 
of  the  heaviest  rocks.  Is  that  due  to  compression  of  the  in- 
terior, or  to  the  presence  of  some  substance  heavier  than  the 
ordinary  materials  at  the  surface?  Some  have  suggested  the 
probability  that  the  earth's  central  mass  is  a  vast  ocean  of 
molten  iron.  It  will  be  remembered,  also,  that  iron  is  a  chief 
constituent  in  meteoric  masses. 


130  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 


.    THE  CRYSTALS  OFS  THE  SEA. 

SALT  AND  GYPSUM. 

LOOK  over  a  map  of  the  Caspian  Sea  and  notice  on  the 
eastern  side  a  roundish  bay  nearly  cut  off  from  the  main 
body.  This  is  the  Karaboghaz  or  Black  Gulf.  Though  ap- 
pearing so  small,  this  bay  is  about  ninety  miles  across.  The 
channel  which  connects  it  with  the  Caspian  is  only  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  yards  broad  and  five  feet  in  depth.  The  water 
is  shallow,  though  that  in  the  central  part  of  the  Caspian 
attains  a  depth  of  twenty-four  hundred  feet.  Through 
the  strait  connecting  the  Karaboghaz  with  the  sea,  a  current 
of  water  sets  out  from  the  Caspian  at  the  rate  of  three  miles 
an  hour.  The  inhabitants  of  the  region  fancy  that  an  under- 
ground passage  exists  from  the  Karaboghaz  to  the  Persian 
Gulf  or  the  Aral  Sea.  This,  however,  is  impossible,  since  the 
Caspian  is  eighty-four  feet  lower  than  the  ocean,  and  one 
hundred  and  seventeen  (some  assert  250)  feet  lower  than  the 
Aral.  The  vast  volume  of  water  discharged  into  the  Kara- 
boghaz is  lost  by  evaporation  from  its  surface.  No  large 
rivers  empty  into  it,  while  the  climate  is  dry,  and  the  summer 
intensely  hot. 

The  water  of  the  Caspian,  as  you  know,  is  salt.  It  has 
been  calculated  that  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  tons  of 
salt  are  carried  by  the  current  into  the  Karaboghaz  daily. 
The  process  of  evaporation  must  consequently  increase  the 
saltness  of  the  water  in  the  bay ;  and  the  great  drain  from  the 
sea  must  tend  to  diminish  its  saltness.  Now,  as  a  fact,  the 
Caspian  possesses  only  about  half  the  saltness  of  the  open 
ocean,  while  the  Karaboghaz  has  become  so  intensely  salt  that 
the  animals  which  once  inhabited  its  waters  have  disappeared. 
In  fact,  the  concentration  has  gone  so  far  that  layers  of  salt 
are  being  deposited  on  the  mud  at  the  bottom.  In  all  prob- 
ability these  processes  will  continue  in  the  future,  and  it  must 
be  anticipated  that  the  salt  deposit  will  increase  in  thickness 
as  long  as  this  gulf  exists.  Should  there  be  an  elevation  of 
the  strait  connecting  the  gulf  with  the  sea,  the  gulf  would 


THE  CRYSTALS  OF  THE  SEA.  131 

speedily  dry  up,  and  all  the  salt  contained  in  its  water  would 
be  precipitated  in  a  vast  bed  of  rock-salt.  Then,  should  a 
depression  of  the  isthmus  connecting  this  low  salt  formation 
with  the  sea  take  place,  there  would  be  a  new  influx  of  the 
sea.  The  sediments  of  its  waters  would  be  deposited  upon  the 
bed  of  rock-salt ;  and  new  precipitations  of  salt  would  occur. 
The  site  of  the  Karaboghaz  would  then  be  a  great  salt-bear- 
ing formation,  like  those  formed  in  ancient  times  in  various 
ages  of  the  world. 

On  other  portions  of  the  Caspian  shores,  the  process  has 
been  brought  nearly  or  quite  to  completion.  On  the  penin- 
sula Apsheron,  on  the  west  side  nearly  opposite  the  Kara- 
boghaz, are  ten  salt  lakes,  in  one  of  which,  evaporation  has 
gone  so  far  that  ten  thousand  tons  of  salt  are  annually  re- 
moved from  it.  Again,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Novo  Pet- 
rovsk,  the  deep  indentation  on  the  east  shore  was  once  a  large 
bay,  which  is  now  divided  into  a  number  of  basins  presenting 
every  degree  of  saline  concentration.  One  of  these  still,  occa- 
sionally receives  water  from  the  sea,  and  has  deposited  on  its 
banks  only  a  thin  layer  of  salt.  A  second,  still  full  of  water, 
has  its  bottom  covered  by  a  thick  crust  of  rose-colored  crys- 
tals like  a  pavement  of  marble.  A  third  exhibits  a  compact 
mass  of  salt  on  which  are  pools  of  water,  whose  surface  is 
more  than  a  yard  below  the  level  of  the  sea.  A  fourth  has 
lost  all  its  water  by  evaporation,  the  stratum  of  salt  left  be- 
hind being  uncovered  by  sand.  A  similar  concentration  is 
taking  place  in  the  Karasu,  or  long  inlet  setting  southward 
from  the  north-eastern  extremity  of  the  Caspian. 

The  whole  Caspian  is  greatly  dwarfed  from  its  ancient 
dimensions  by  the  process  of  evaporation,  and  it  would  be 
naturally  expected  that  the  salinity  of  the  water  would  be 
intensified,  as  in  the  Dead  Sea,  instead  of  diminished.  The 
intensification  has  really  taken  place,  but,  under  such  circum- 
stances that  only  marginal  portions  have  increased  in  sal tn ess, 
while  the  main  body  has  been  weakened  by  the  influx  of  the 
great  rivers  Volga,  Ural,  Kuma  and  Terek. 

This  account  of  changes  taking  place  on  the  borders  of  the 


132  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

Caspian,  well  illustrates,  as  I  have  long  believed,  the  method 
of  accumulation  of  the  great  salt  formations  of  geological 
times.  In  western  New  York,  in  certain  regions  great  beds 
of  rock  salt  may  be  reached  by  boring  to  a  certain  depth. 
They  lie  underneath  solid  sheets  of  limestone  and  thick  beds 
of  shale.  In  the  vicinity  of  Goderich,  Ontario,  and  also  in 
Michigan  at  sundry  localities — Marine  City,  St.  Clair,  Alpena 
on  the  east  shore,  and  Manistee,  Muskegon  and  Ludington 
on  the  west  shore — vast  deposits  of  rock  salt  are  found,  at 
depths  from  a  thousand  to  two  thousand  feet.  The  best  of 
evidence  exists  that  the  salt  bed  is  the  same  on  opposite  sides 
of  the  state,  and  extends  continuously  under  the  state.  This 
is  also,  the  formation  which  supplies  brine  for  the  works  at 
Syracuse. 

Another  salt  formation  occurs  in  Michigan,  occupying  a 
higher  geological  position  than  that  just  mentioned.  The 
first  is  the  Salina  formation  in  the  Upper  Silurian  (see  Table, 
p.  73) ;  this  is  the  Michigan  Salt  Group,  in  the  Lower  Car- 
boniferous. From  the  last,  the  wonderful  supplies  of  the 
Saginaw  valley  are  mostly  obtained.  From  the  Salina  form- 
ation the  supplies  eclipse  even  those  of  the  upper  group.  At 
Marine  City,  on  the  St.  Clair  river,  a  delightful  steamboat 
ride  from  Detroit,  are  works  of  astonishing  magnitude  and 
productiveness.  The  great  salt  industry  of  Cheshire,  England, 
is  supported  by  beds  of  rock  salt  sixty  to  a  hundred  feet  thick, 
and  underlying  strata  of  clay  and  gypsum,  and  having  indu- 
rated clays  and  gypseous  beds  underneath.  Much  of  the  salt 
is  mixed  with  earthy  materials,  and  hence  is  redissolved  in 
sea-water,  settled  and  re-evaporated.  Other  salt  deposits  of 
world-wide  celebrity  occur  in  Poland,  Austria,  and  Germany. 
The  boring  at  Stassfurt,  Germany,  penetrated  1,066  feet  of 
rock  salt,  and  that  at  Sperenberg,  5,084  feet  without  reach- 
ing the  bottom. 

It  appears,  therefore,  that  the  evaporation  of  sea-water 
has  taken  place  on  a  large  scale  in  various  ages  of  the  world. 
In  many  localities  the  salt  has  been  again  dissolved  by  fresh 
water  from  the  surface,  and  porous  formations  underlying  have 


THE  CRYSTALS  OF  THE  SEA.  133 

become  saturated  with  brine.  This  is  the  case  with  the  Michi- 
gan Salt  Group  and  the  Onondaga  salines  of  New  York,  as 
also  those  on  the  Kanawha  and  Ohio  rivers.  In  some  cases 
the  home  rocks  possess  sufficient  porosity  to  retain  the  brine. 
In  other  localities  the  solid  salt  exists,  but  it  is  so  mixed  with 
clay  as  to  require  redissolving  and  purification.  This  as  I 
said,  is  the  case  in  Cheshire.  In  some  countries,  as  in  Poland 
and  Austria,  great  mines  are  excavated  in  immense  salt  forma- 
tions. In  Michigan  the  rock  salt  possesses  great  purity,  but 
it  lies  so  deep  that  the  expense  of  sinking  and  maintaining 
shafts  has  so  far,  led  to  the  expedient  of  dissolving  the  salt  in 
its  place,  and  then  pumping  out  the  saturated  brine.  At 
Marine  City,  water  pumped  from  the  St.  Clair  river  is  forced 
down  the  bore-hole,  where  it  dissolves  the  salt,  and  is  then 
forced  out  by  the  same  process  into  great  tanks,  where  the 
brine  settles,  and  then  in  other  tanks  undergoes  evaporation 
by  means  of  heat  from  steam  pipes  immersed  in  the  brine. 
The  precipitated  salt  is  raked  out  by  automatic  rakes,  allowed 
to  drain,  then  dried  and  barreled.  At  Syracuse  and  in  the 
Saginaw  valley,  the  brine  is  pumped  from  the  wells  and  set- 
tled and  evaporated.  Formerly  much  evaporation  was  done 
in  kettles  over  a  fire.  More  recently,  pans  and  steam  have 
been  employed.  A  large  amount  of  salt  is  produced,  especially 
at  Syracuse,  by  spontaneous  evaporation  in  shallow  vats  ex- 
posed to  the  sun  and  air,  and  covered  in  rainy  weather,  by 
light  roofs  moved  on  rollers. 

The  natural  brines  of  Saginaw  and  other  regions  contain 
impurities.  In  the  process  of  evaporation  those  least  soluble 
are  first  precipitated  out,  and  then  the  other  substances  in  the 
inverse  order  of  their  solubility.  Thus  the  brine,  which  is 
limpid  and  sparkling  on  its  escape  from  the  earth,  after  ex- 
posure to  the  air  forms,  by  peroxidation  of  the  iron  (see  Talk 
XXII)  a  red  deposit  which  is  insoluble,  and  falls  to  the  bot- 
tom of  the  settling  vat — generally  hastened  by  some  coagulable 
substance.  When  transferred  to  the  kettles  and  heated, 
gypsum  is  the  first  deposit,  and  this  adheres  firmly  to  the  sur- 
face. Next,  common  salt  crystallizes  out,  which  forms  on  the 


134  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

bottom  and  is  raked  from  the  kettle,  drained  and  placed  in 
bins.  The  water  remaining  is  called  "bitterns,"  in  conse- 
quence of  other  bitter  and  nauseous  substances  still  remaining. 
Should  the  evaporation  be  further  continued,  Epsom  salts 
(magnesium  sulphate)  would  be  thrown  down  in  needle-shaped 
crystals.  Finally,  the  chlorides  of  calcium  and  potassium 
possess  such  affinity  for  water,  that  they  could  only  be  sepa- 
rated completely  by  bringing  the  residue  to  a  red  heat. 

This  order  of  precipitation  possesses  much  geological  in- 
terest. In  some  salt  formations,  as  that  of  the  Salina  group, 
the  same  order  of  succession  has  been  noted.  At  the  bottom 
we  find  red  ferruginous  clays.  Above  are  gypseous  clays  and 
often,  beds  of  pure  gypsum.  Next  occurs  brine  or  salt. 
Above  all  are  found  limestones  still  retaining  the  needle-shaped 
cavities  from  which  the  crystals  of  Epsom  salt  have  been  dis- 
solved, or  in  which  crystals  of  some  other  substance  have  been 
deposited  as  pseudomorphs — minerals  having  the  crystalline 
forms  which  characterize  other  minerals.  This  succession 
observed  in  nature  is  a  confirmation  of  the  theory  of  origin  of 
salt  formations  by  evaporation  of  gulfs  and  bays.  It  is  evi- 
dent, however,  that  such  order  of  deposit  can  not  generally  be 
observed  as  one  single  circuit ;  because  irregular  irruptions  of 
sea-water,  alternating  with  floods  from  land  and  periods  of  dry 
weather,  must  break  up  any  continuous  succession  from  begin- 
ning to  end  of  the  history  of  a  salt  basin,  and  must  lead  to 
many  repetitions  of  strata  of  the  various  kinds.  This,  how- 
ever, is  the  fact  universally  observed,  that  all  salt  formations 
are  characterized  by  the  presence  of  all  or  nearly  all  the  sub- 
stances found  existing  in  sea-water.  Gypsum,  especially,  is 
always  associated  with  brine  and  salt;  and  that  is  the  reason 
the  two  have  to  be  discussed  together.  Other  substances, 
found  equally  in  sea-water  and  natural  brines,  are  magnesia, 
potash,  bromine,  and  iodine. 


LIQUID  SUNLIGHT.  135 


XXIV.    LIQUID  SUNI^IQHT. 

PETROLEUM. 

THE  history  of  the  search  for  native  oil  is  romantic. 
Known  for  ages,  it  remained  a  mere  curiosity  till  1859.  Even 
in  America,  where  popular  intelligence  is  supposed  to  utilize 
every  possible  advantage,  petroleum  rose  only  to  the  import- 
ance of  a  quack  remedy  for  aches  and  other  evils.  But  sud- 
denly it  assumed  the  scepter  of  king.  It  ruled  the  plans  and 
lives  of  thousands ;  it  sent  men  blindly  and  stupidly  in  herds, 
to  the  forks  of  streams  in  search  of  imaginary  "ranges"  and 
fanciful  "oil  belts."  The  smell  of  petroleum  was  a  craze. 
Men  pursued  it  with  the  sound  and  fury  of  dogs  on  the  track 
of  their  prey.  They  lost  their  power  of  reasoning  on  the  sub- 
ject. They  could  not  be  convinced  that  mineral  oil  is  a  geo- 
logical product,  fixed  in  its  relations  to  the  earth  and  to  the 
strata,  as  unchangeably  and  as  intelligibly  as  iron  or  salt. 
They  would  not  listen  to  the  counsel  of  science.  Every  man 
was  confident  in  his  self-wisdom,  and  never  inquired  on  what 
grounds  he  believed  and  acted  as  he  did.  Repudiating  the 
advice  of  those  whose  special  business  it  was  to  know  some- 
thing on  the  subject,  they  preferred  the  dictates  of  their  own 
ignorance ;  they  went  by  the  scent  of  the  stuff;  they  were  led 
by  the  nose;  they  put  their  money  in  the  ground  with  the 
assurance  of  infallibility — and  many  of  them  have  kept  it 
there,  as  the  souvenir  of  a  happy  intoxication.  There  was 
oil — millions  of  barrels  of  it ;  and  many  investors  were  fortu- 
nate if  not  wise;  and  many,  though  wise,  were  not  fortunate. 

It  was  a  new  situation.  It  must  be  confessed  that  geology 
took  up  the  subject  as  a  novice;  though  with  the  great  ad- 
vantage of  a  knowledge  of  certain  geological  principles  to 
which  the  generation  and  accumulation  of  petroleum  must 
necessarily  conform.  But  the  geologist's  inexperience  in  the 
actual  behavior  of  the  product  led  to  errors  of  judgment  and 
confessions  of  ignorance.  Few  geologists,  however,  manifested 
that  strength  of  confidence  in  opinions  which  is  the  character- 
istic of  weak  or  ignorant  minds.  Many,  however,  who  ad- 


136  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

vertised  themselves  as  geologists,  were  pretenders  and  quacks. 
Recognized  by  the  undisc rim  mating  as  geologists,  possessing 
equal  authority  with  scientific  men  who  had  earned  reputa- 
tions among  their  compeers,  these  geological  quacks  brought 
discredit  on  science,  and  justified,  to  some  extent,  the  contempt 
of  "practical  men"  who  appreciated  conclusions,  but  spurned 
the  reasoning  which  led  to  them. 

Now,  some  of  the  scientific  principles  which  must  hold 
true  without  any  regard-  to  the  particular  causes  and  condi- 
tions of  oil-accumulation,  are  such  as  these :  1.  Oil  is  not  a 
direct  deposit  from  the  sea ;  it  is  the  product  of  some  changes 
in  substances  which  formed  part  of  the  ocean's  sediments. 
2.  Being  composed  of  carbon,  hydrogen,  and  oxygen,  it  must 
have  originated  from  organic  substances,  either  vegetable  or 
animal. 

3.  Being  lighter  than  water,  it  must  tend  to  rise  through 
the  water  which  saturates  all  rocks,  instead  of  sinking.     The 
source  of  the  oil,  therefore,  could  never  be  in  any  formation 
situated  at  a  higher  level  than  the  place  of  the  oil.     This  is  a 
principle  which  the  crazy  crowd  could  never  be  taught.    The 
oil,  for  them,  was  always  a  "drip"  from  the  Coal  Measures. 

4.  A  good  "  surface  show"  is  not  favorable,  since  it  is  only 
caused  by  the  escape  and  waste  of  the  oil;  while  the  thing 
wanted  is  an  accumulation  or  retention  of  the  oil — that  is,  an 
absence  of  surface  show.     This  the  contemners  of  scientific 
guidance  could  not  understand. 

5.  There    must   consequently   be    an    overlying   stratum 
which  is  impervious  to  oil,  to  prevent  the  product  from  rising 
to  the  surface,  to  be  wasted  in  a  "surface  show."   If  a  fissure, 
even,  passes  through  this,  the  oil  will  escape.     A  bed  of  clay 
or  compact  shale  might  serve  as  such  a  cover.    Compact  lime- 
stone might  serve ;   but  most  limestones  are  too  much  shat- 
tered.    Indeed,  shattered  limestones,  in  some  cases,  serve  as 
reservoirs  for  the  accumulation. 

6.  The  accumulation  of  oil  must  be  determined,  among 
other  things,  by  the  attitudes  of  the  strata.    The  trends  of  "  oil 
territory  "  must  conform  to  the  trends  of  formations.    The  situ- 


LIQUID  SUNLIGHT.  137 

ations  of  creeks  at  the  surface  could  have  no  bearing  on  the 
underground  distribution  of  petroleum.  The  junction  of  two 
streams  and  the  location  of  a  sand-flat  could  sustain  no  rela- 
tion to  strata  three  or  four  hundred  feet  beneath.  Whether 
the  situation  were  in  a  ravine  or  on  the  upland  could  make 
no  difference  except  in  the  depth  of  the  boring.  The  notion 
of  "ranges"  and  "lines"  in  the  distribution  of  productive 
territory  was  illusory ;  since  this  is  determined  by  the  direc- 
tion, the  length,  and  the  breadth  of  the  formations  which  fur- 
nish the  requisite  conditions. 

7.  Petroleum  is  not  confined  to  any  particular  formation. 
For  many  years  it  has  been  known  in  limited  quantities,  from 
the  Eozoic  gneisses  to  the  Tertiary.  The  assumption  was  mis- 
leading, therefore,  that  every  oil  region  must  be  supplied  under 
the  same  stratigraphical  and  topographical  conditions  as  Ven- 
ango  county,  Pennsylvania.  It  was  a  matter  of  scientific  cer- 
tainty that  another  region  might  be  fed  from  strata  of  a  dif- 
ferent geological  age,  of  a  different  lithological  constitution, 
dipping  in  a  different  direction,  trending  to  other  points  of 
the  compass,  and  overlaid  by  different  topographical  features 
at  the  surface. 

All  these  principles,  I  have  said,  were  known  to  science, 
and  secured  to  the  scientific  man,  certain  important  advan- 
tages in  arriving  at  judgments  concerning  prospects  of  success 
in  a  proposed  enterprise.  All  of  these  principles  were  disre- 
garded by  a  majority  of  the  "oil-prospectors."  Some  men 
under  pay  from  capitalists,  even  resorted  to  the  witch-hazel 
fork  in  quest  of  knowledge  on  which  capital  might  venture 
investment. 

Let  me  now  add  some  principles  which  experience  and  ob- 
servation have  pretty  well  established,  and  you  will  have  the 
whole  philosophy  of  oil-finding  and  oil  production.  It  is  gen- 
erally admitted  that  the  porous  stratum  in  which  oil  accumu- 
lates must  have  an  arched  or  anticlinal  form.  Otherwise,  the 
oil  will  spread  laterally  to  an  indefinite  distance,  and  no  local 
accumulation  will  take  place.  On  the  contrary,  the  oil  will 
somewhere  find  an  outlet  to  the  surface. 

12 


138  "WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

Another  doctrine  generally  accepted  is  the  vegetable  origin 
of  the  great  supplies  possessing  commercial  importance.  It  is 
admitted  that  animal  remains  may  be  a  source  of  petroleum 
to  a  small  amount. 

Again,  it  has  been  observed  that  every  great  oil-containing 
reservoir  has  below  it — not  always  immediately  below — a  for- 
mation of  the  nature  known  as  black  bituminous  shale.  This 
is  soft,  easily  cut  with  a  knife,  and  contains  a  large  amount 
of  vegetable  matter.  Such  shales  are  generally  thought  to 
contain  quantities  of  remains  of  sea-weeds.  If  so,  they  exist 
in  a  comminuted  and  obscure  state. 

Probably  a  majority  of  geologists  entertain  the  opinion 
that  petroleum  is  produced  from  these  black  shales  by  a  slow 
spontaneous  distillation,  through  the  action  of  the  heat  in  the 
rocks.  By  artificial  distillation,  oil  is  readily  obtained  from 
them,  and  little  doubt  is  entertained  that  at  a  comparatively 
low  temperature,  a  slow  natural  distillation  proceeds. 

Observation  has  shown  that  while  black  shales  manifest  a 
predisposition  to  the  production  of  oil,  pure  vegetable  deposits 
are  more  fixed.  Thus,  from  proper  coal-beds  no  oil  proceeds ; 
but  from  cannel  coal  and  coaly  shales  oil  is  spontaneously 
evolved,  as  it  also  is  from  the  black  shales  where  the  vegeta- 
ble matter  has  not  attained  a  coaly  condition.  The  mixture 
of  argillaceous  matter  with  the  vegetable  material  seems  to 
favor  the  oil-making  process. 

Natural  gas  has  an  origin  very  similar  to  that  of  petro- 
leum. The  inflammable  gas  now  so  extensively  employed  as  a 
substitute  for  coal,  is  also  composed,  like  petroleum,  of  car- 
bon and  hydrogen,  but  with  a  larger  proportion  of  hydrogen. 
It  must  be  derived,  in  a  similar  way,  from  a  similar  source. 
Petroleum,  in  fact,  is  generally  associated  with  gas.  It  seems 
to  be  composed  of  the  heavier  and  more  fixed  compounds  of 
carbon  and  hydrogen — containing  much  carbon,  while  gas  is 
a  lighter  compound  with  more  hydrogen.  Petroleum,  how- 
ever, is  not  a  simple  compound  of  definite  composition,  but  a 
mixture,  apparently  of  many  compounds — the  more  fixed,  like 
asphalt  and  paraffine,  being  dissolved  in  the  fluids  kerosene. 


LIQUID  SUNLIGHT.  139 

naphtha,  and  others.  It  is  evident  that  natural  gas  may  wan- 
der farther  away  than  oil  from  the  formation  in  which  it  origi- 
nates ;  and  hence  there  may  be  more  difficulty  in  tracing  it 
to  its  real  source.  It  may  become  widely  separated  from  ap- 
parent connection  with  oil.  It  may  also  be  distilled  from 
shales  not  possessing  the  requisite  richness  to  afford  oil. 
Hence,  in  some  regions,  as  Fremont,  Cleveland,  and  other 
localities  in  northern  Ohio,  it  issues  from  Cambrian  strata 
which  furnish  no  indications  of  oil.  In  western  Pennsyl- 
vania, within  the  Coal  Measures,  the  great  supplies  of 
gas  are  yielded  probably,  by  the  same  formations  as  sup- 
ply petroleum.  This,  however,  is  a  question  still  under 
investigation. 

Now  let  us  look  into  the  relations  of  things  in  some  of  the 
principal  oil-producing  regions.  The  most  famous  is  that  of 
northwestern  Pennsylvania.  The  surface  rocks  are  Coal 
Measures  or  Lower  Carboniferous  Sandstones  (Waverly  or 
Catskill  sandstones)  or  Chemung  sandstones — according  to 
the  locality.  The  oil  is  found  accumulated  in  the  sandstones ; 
but  its  source  is  believed  to  be  the  Genesee  Black  Shale, 
near  the  top  of  the  Hamilton  Group  (See  Table,  page  73.) 
There  are  in  all  productive  situations,  shaly  strata  also, 
above  the  sandstone  reservoir,  which  prevent  the  oil  from 
escaping  to  the  surface.  The  situations  are  similar  in  eastern 
Ohio  and  southern  New  York. 

In  Ontario  are  two  kinds  of  oil,  and  two  different  reser- 
voirs. The  thick  lubricating  oil  accumulates  in  a  gravel  bed 
at  the  bottom  of  the  Drift,  and  is  confined  by  the  clay  sheets 
of  the  overlying  Drift.  Its  source  is  probably  the  Genesee 
Shale,  which  immediately  underlies,  but  thins  out  a  half 
mile  further  east.  The  more  abundant  petroleum  is  found 
stored  in  fissures  and  cavities  of  the  Hamilton  limestone; 
and  its  source  is  probably  the  black  Marcellus  shale  next 
below  the  limestone.  These  cavities  often  contain  water  un- 
der the  oil,  and  gas  above  it.  If  the  auger  enters  the  upper 
part,  gas  escapes  at  first,  but  when  this  is  exhausted,  oil  may 
be  pumped.  When  the  oil  is  exhausted,  water  follows.  If  the 


140  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

auger  enter  below  the  surface  of  the  oil,  the  reaction  of  the 
gas  forces  the  oil  to  the  surface,  and  a  "flowing  well" 
exists.  When  the  oil  becomes  lowered  to  the  place  of 
the  perforation,  gas  escapes  till  the  pressure  is  relieved.  Then, 
if  any  oil  remains,  it  may  be  pumped.  Lastly,  the  water 
may  be  pumped.  If  the  auger  enters  the  cavity  below  the 
surface  of  the  water,  the  reaction  of  the  gas  forces  first  water 
to  the  mouth  of  the  well ;  then  when  the  bottom  of  the  oil 
is  lowered  to  the  orifice,  oil  is  forced  out  till  its  surface  sub- 
sides to  the  orifice,  when,  finally,  the  gas  escapes.  No  oil 
now  remains  in  the  cavity. 

In  California  an  oil-producing  shale  extends  through  the 
Eocene  (Tertiary)  of  the  Coast  Ranges;  but  south  of  San 
Francisco  these  strata  mostly  stand  on  edge,  and  most  of  the 
fluid  oil  has  escaped,  leaving  large  quantities  of  tarry  as- 
phaltum,  which  hardens  on  exposure  to  the  air.  North  of 
San  Francisco,  however,  these  shales  are  horizontal,  and  oil 
has  accumulated  in  considerable  quantities.  But  the  chief  sup- 
ply of  petroleum  in  California  is  found  in  the  less  disturbed 
regions  south  of  San  Francisco,  chiefly  in  Los  Angeles  and 
Ventura  counties.  The  total  product  of  the  state  in  1884 
was  262,000  barrels. 

In  foreign  counties,  the  most  productive  territory  is  the 
Baku  region  in  Russia,  near  where  the  Caucasus  abuts 
against  the  Caspian.  Here  is  an  area  of  14,000  square  miles 
which  is  producing,  under  treatment  assimilated  to  that  em- 
ployed in  America,  quantities  which  promise  to  interfere  se- 
riously with  the  export  of  American  oil.  Six  hundred  wells 
have  been  bored,  and  one  spouting  well  is  represented  to 
have  produced  50,000  barrels  a  day.  The  most  copious  Penn- 
sylvania well  flowed  9,000  barrels  a  day,  and  the  most  pro- 
ductive Canadian  well,  7,500  barrels. 


GASEOUS  SUNLIGHT.  141 


XXV.  GASKOUS  SUNLIQHT. 

NATURAL  GAS  —  ITS  WONDERS  AND  ITS  GEOLOGY. 

ILLUMINATING  and  Heating  Gas  is  one  of  the  products  of 
the  earth.  Its  escape  is  a  geological  phenomenon.  Its  pres- 
sure, its  volume,  its  composition,  its  permanence,  are  facts 
from  which  the  geologist  deduces  past  conditions  in  the  world's 
history.  It  was  stated  in  the  last  talk  that  its  origin  is  un- 
doubtedly similar  to  that  of  oil,  and  that  oil  is  chiefly  the 
product  of  the  distillation  of  shales  charged  with  vegetable 
matter  —  probably  ancient  sea-weeds  which  grew  in  veritable 
"  Sargosso  Seas."  As  sun-light  is  the  active  agent  in  vegeta- 
ble growth,  a  stem  or  a  leaf  is  simply  a  body  of  transformed 
sun-light.  When  imbedded  in  the  rocks  it  is  strictly  and  lit- 
erally fossil  sun-light.  In  petroleum,  ancient  sun-light  is  pre- 
served in  liquid  form  ;  in  natural  gas  it  is  gaseous. 

The  escape  of  burning  gas  from  the  earth  has  been  ob- 
served for  ages.  For  more  than  fifty  years,  the  gas  escaping 
with  the  brine  from  the  wells  of  the  Kanawha  Valley,  West 
Virginia,  has  been  employed  in  the  evaporation  of  the  brine. 
It  has  long  been  utilized  in  some  salt  mines  where  it  escapes 
through  crevices.  In  a  similar  way,  it  enters  coal  mines,  and 
is  known  to  miners  as  fire  damp,  since,  mixed  with  a  certain 
proportion  of  atmospheric  air,  it  becomes  violently  explosive. 
The  Chinese  have  for  centuries,  employed  natural  gas  for 
lighting  and  heating.  On  the  Cumberland,  in  Kentucky, 
gas  accumulates  in  underground  reservoirs,  and  the  elastic 
pressure  is  sometimes  attended  by  explosions,  constituting 
earthquakes  of  local  extent,  and  lending  some  plausibility  to 
the  ancient  theory  of  those  phenomena.  At  Fredonia,  New 
York,  are  gas  emissions  which  have  attracted  attention  for 
many  years,  and  have  long  been  utilized  for  lighting  and 
heating.  A  gas  spring  was  discovered  here  in  1821.  The 
gas  at  that  time  accumulated  was  used  for  lighting  a  mill  and 
several  stores.  It  was  also  introduced  into  a  few  public  build- 
ings, and  was  brought  to  the  attention  of  Lafayette  when  he 


142  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

passed  through  the  village  in  1824.  Subsequently,  a  shaft 
was  sunk,  and  sufficient  gas  concentrated  to  supply  thirty 
burners.  Thirty-seven  years  afterward,  another  shaft  was 
sunk  thirty  feet,  and  two  borings  were  made — one  to  150  feet. 
In  1858,  two  thousand  cubic  feet  of  gas  were  delivered  daily 
through  the  village. 

During  the  years  of  the  great  oil  excitement,  from  1860 
to  1870,  many  of  the  borings  for  oil  reached  only  gas.  In 
Knox  county,  Ohio,  in  1860,  two  wells  were  sunk  for  oil. 
In  both,  streams  of  salt  water  were  intercepted,  and,  at  about 
six  hundred  feet,  an  immense  reservoir  of  gas  was  struck. 
The  gas  ejected  the  water  with  great  violence.  The  first  well 
was  bored  in  the  winter,  and  the  water  soon  covered  the  derrick 
with  ice,  forming  a  kind  of  chimney  sixty  feet  in  height. 
Through  this,  the  water  was  thrown,  at  intervals  of  about  one 
minute,  to  double  that  height,  or  120  feet.  After  the  water, 
and  with  it,  came  a  great  rush  of  gas,  which  continued  until 
the  pressure  below  was  relieved,  when  the  water  again  began 
to  accumulate,  and  was  again  ejected.  The  process  was  en- 
tirely analogous  to  the  action  of  the  geysers  described  in  Talk 
XIV.  In  the  Knox  county  well,  gas  took  the  place  of  steam 
in  the  geyser.  When  the  derrick  was  covered  with  ice,  the 
gas  escaping  from  the  well  was  frequently  ignited,  and  the 
effect,  especially  at  night,  of  this  fountain  of  mingled  fire  and 
water,  shooting  up  to  the  height  of  one  hundred  and  twenty 
feet,  through  a  great  transparent  and  illuminated  chimney,  is 
said  to  have  been  indescribably  magnificent. 

When  I  visited  the  spot,  in  1866,  a  two-inch  gas  pipe  had 
been  fixed  in  the  orifice  of  the  second  well,  and  the  gas  was 
escaping  with  a  power  and  volume  which  were  startling.  The 
sound  could  be  heard  for  a  quarter  of  a  mile.  The  pressure 
was  two  hundred  and  sixty-two  pounds  to  the  square  inch, 
as  reported  by  Mr.  Peter  Neff.  The  ignited  jet  formed  a 
flame  twenty  feet  in  length,  and  as  large  around  as  a  hogshead. 
It  was  an  exciting  spectacle.  If  the  stop-cock  were  closed  a 
few  minutes  and  again  opened,  the  accumulated  pressure  gave 
a  volume  of  flame  as  large  as  a  house.  The  supply  of  gas 


GASEOUS  SUNLIGHT.  143 

here  was  sufficient  to  illuminate  a  large  city.  Ten  years  after- 
ward, personal  information  from  Mr.  Neff,  under  whose  direc- 
tion the  work  had  been  done,  assured  me  that  these  wells 
continued  to  "blow,"  and  he  was  then  manufacturing  from 
the  gas  a  refined  quality  of  lampblack. 

In  Michigan,  certain  parts  of  Wayne,  Oakland,  and  Ma- 
comb  counties  appear  to  be  underlaid  by  considerable  reser- 
voirs of  gas.  In  1875,  a  gas  well  was  struck  three  miles  west 
of  Royal  Oak,  at  the  depth  of  a  hundred  feet.  In  1877,  a 
well  eight  miles  southeast  of  the  village,  at  the  depth  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  feet,  reached  confined  gas  which  threw  the 
tools  into  the  air.  It  is  said  that  much  sand  escaped,  and  a 
stone  weighing  "several"  pounds  was  thrown  over  a  barn 
"  forty  rods  distant."  The  well  was  subsequently  filled — evi- 
dently after  the  high  pressure  of  the  gas  had  subsided.  In 
1879,  at  a  place  five  miles  northeast  of  the  same  village,  a 
well  bored  one  hundred  feet  secured  a  supply  of  gas  which 
has  since  been  used  for  illuminating  purposes.  Three  miles 
south  of  the  village,  a  powerful  explosion  revealed  the  uncov- 
ering of  a  gas  reservoir  in  1880.  After  burning  two  years, 
two  other  gas  wells  were  bored,  and  the  united  illumination 
rendered  newspaper  print  legible  at  night,  at  the  distance  of 
one  hundred  yards.  In  1883,  a  gas  vein  was  reached  at 
ninety-eight  feet,  which  furnished  a  flame  twenty  feet  high. 
In  1884,  on  deepening  this  well,  water  was  found,  and  addi- 
tional gas  which  threw  the  water  to  the  height  of  twenty  feet. 
Many  other  occurrences  of  a  similar  nature  have  been  known 
in  this  part  of  Michigan. 

At  West  Bloomfield,  New  York,  a  well  bored  five  hun- 
dred feet  emitted  gas  with  great  force.  At  Erie,  Pennsyl- 
vania, Conneaut,  Painesville,  Cleveland,  and  Fremont  in 
Ohio,  a  number  of  wells  have  been  successfully  bored.  At 
Buffalo,  New  York,  gas  with  a  pressure  of  one  hundred  and 
thirty-one  pounds  to  the  square  inch  issued  from  a  well  six 
hundred  and  forty  feet  deep.  At  Cumberland,  Maryland,  a 
gas  well  burned  for  two  years.  Some  six  miles  east  of  Crab 
Orchard,  Kentucky,  is  a  burning  spring,  the  water  in  which 


144  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

is  in  a  constant  state  of  ebullition  from  the  escape  of  gas. 
"Kegularly  every  day/'  says  J.  F.  Henry,  "between  four 
and  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  it  overflows ;  a  large  quan- 
tity of  gas  is  liberated,  and  if  a  torch  is  applied,  a  flame  re- 
sults." At  Fairview,  Pennsylvania,  a  well  drilled  for  oil,  in 
1870,  to  the  depth  of  one  thousand  three  hundred  and  thirty- 
five  feet,  yielded  an  immense  volume  of  gas  through  a  six- 
inch  pipe,  with  so  much  noise  as  to  be  heard  for  a  distance  of 
two  miles.  The  pressure  was  eighty  pounds  to  the  square 
inch.  The  gas  was  employed  in  establishments  in  Fairview, 
Petrolia,  Kerns  City,  and  Argyle,  besides  furnishing  fuel  used 
in  drilling  some  forty  other  wells.  In  the  same  year,  a  well 
bored  near  Titusville  discharged  four  million  cubic  feet  per 
day.  At  East  Sandy,  in  the  same  oil  district,  a  gas  well 
struck  in  1869  resisted  all  efforts  to  extinguish  its  burning. 
"It  roared  like  a  cataract  and  could  be  heard  for  miles." 

Within  a  couple  of  years,  large  supplies  of  gas  have  been 
obtained  in  northern  Ohio,  by  boring  down  to  the  Trenton 
Limestone — at  least,  into  the  Cambrian  ;  for  some  doubt  exists 
as  to  the  precise  formation.  It  is  announced  (January,  1886,) 
that  Fremont,  Ohio,  has  reached  a  supply  of  two  million  feet 
daily.  It  is  also  reported  that  gas  and  oil  have  been  obtained 
at  Lima,  Ohio,  at  the  depth  of  one  thousand  two  hundred 
and  fifty-one  feet.  The  gas  produces  a  jet  of  flame  thirty 
feet  high. 

The  vicinity  of  Pittsburgh,  however,  surpasses  all  other 
regions  in  abundance  of  gas-supply.  The  surrounding  coun- 
try seems  to  be  underlaid  by  reservoirs  of  incredible  capacity. 
These,  or  some  of  these,  have  been  tapped,  and  the  product 
has  come  into  extensive  use  in  furnace  and  other  operations. 
Mr.  William  Metcalf,  writing  in  November,  1884,  said  :  "  An 
observer  standing  on  a  hill-top  in  Allegheny  township,  West- 
moreland county — say  about  three  miles  southeast  of  the  con- 
fluence of  the  Allegheny  and  Kiskeminetas  rivers — can  see, 
on  a  dark  night,  on  the  northwestern  horizon,  the  reflection  of 
the  lights  from  the  Butler  county  wells;  to  the  north,  the 
lights  from  the  wells  in  the  direction  of  Kittan'ing;  to  the 


GASEOUS  SUNLIGHT.  145 

northeast,  the  Leachburg  and  Apollo  wells;  to  the  southeast, 
the  Murraysville  wells,  and  to  the  southwest,  the  lights  of  the 
Tarentum  wells.  Off  in  Washington  county,  and  down  to- 
ward Steubenville,  there  are  other  wells,  while  at  Hulton,  in 
Pittsburgh,  in  the  east  end  at  Soho,  at  Brownstown,  at  Sligo 
and  in  Bayardstown,  there  are  wells  upon  wells,  roarers  and 
gushers.  Some  of  these  wells  give  out  their  gas  at  an  enor- 
mous pressure.  A  gauge  on  a  six-inch  pipe  situated  some 
miles  from  the  wells,  registered  one  hundred  and  twenty 
pounds  to  the  square  inch,  and  the  noise  of  the  rushing  gas 
indicated  that  the  gauge  was  about  right." 

Two  of  the  most  prolific  of  these  wells,  the  Burns  and  the 
Delamater,  have  been  described  by  the  late  Professor  J.  Law- 
rence Smith.  "  These  are  separated  by  at  least  half  a  mile, 
and  are  located  in  Butler  county,  seven  miles  north-east  of 
Butler,  and  about  fifteen  miles  from  the  Harney  wells,  of 
which  the  gas  is  conducted  to  Pittsburg.  The  two  wells  are 
located  about  thirty  miles  in  a  straight  line  from  Pittsburg. 
Their  depth  is  about  one  thousand  six  hundred  feet,  down  to 
the  fourth  sand  stratum  so  well  known,  at  least  by  name,  to 
those  engaged  in  the  petroleum  production '.  The  Burns,  it  is 
believed,  has  never  yielded  oil;  but  the  Delamater  first 
carried  to  the  third  sand  layer  (the  oil  men  mean  sandstone 
when  they  say  'sand'),  was  a  petroleum  well  at  one  thou- 
sand six  hundred  feet.  Sunk  afterward  to  the  fourth  stratum, 
it  gave  gas  at  such  a  pressure  that  the  tools,  of  one  thou- 
sand seven  hundred  and  sixty  pounds  weight,  could  be  with- 
drawn by  hand.  Each  well  is  five  and  five-eighths  inches  in 
diameter." 

The  Delamater  is  the  more  remarkable.  It  furnishes  light 
and  fuel  to  all  the  vicinity,  including  the  village  of  Saint  Joe. 
It  is  situated  in  a  valley  surrounded  by  high  mountains,  which 
reflect  and  concentrate  the  light  of  the  ignited  gas.  Many 
conduits  start  from  the  well ;  one  leads  the  gas  directly  to  the 
cylinder  of  a  strong  motor,  which,  by  its  pressure,  acquires  a 
prodigious  velocity.  Another  pipe  feeds  a  flame  capable  of 
reducing  as  much  iron  ore  as  half  the  furnaces  of  Pittsburgh. 

13 


146  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

At  sixty-four  feet  distant  is  the  principal  escape  orifice  of  the 
well.  From  a  tube  three  inches  in  diameter,  a  column  of 
fire  forty  feet  high  shoots  forth  with  a  roar  that  fairly  makes 
the  hills  tremble.  During  a  calm  night  the  noise  can  be  heard 
at  a  distance  of  fifteen  miles.  At  four  miles,  the  sound  re- 
sembles that  of  a  railroad  train  crossing  a  bridge  near  at 
hand,  and  finally,  as  the  escape  orifice  is  reached,  the  roar  is 
like  that  of  a  thousand  locomotives  blowing  off  steam  together. 
At  the  well,  in  a  tube  of  five  and  five-eighths  inches,  the  pres- 
sure is  about  one  hundred  pounds  per  square  inch ;  in  a  tube 
of  two  inches,  in  which  the  gas  is  led  to  Freeport,  fifteen 
miles  distant,  the  pressure  is  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
pounds.  The  ascending  velocity  is  one  thousand  seven  hun- 
dred feet  per  second,  and  if  this  be  multiplied  by  the  area  of 
the  tube,  24.7  square  inches,  a  yield  of  two  hundred  and 
eighty-nine  cubic  feet  per  second,  or  about  one  million  cubic 
feet  per  hour,  is  determined.  This  is  one  thousand  four  hun- 
dred and  eight  tons  of  gas  daily.  This,  for  heating  purposes, 
is  estimated  as  equivalent  to  two  thousand  tons  of  bitumi- 
nous coal. 

A  year  ago,  the  daily  consumption  of  natural  gas  for  fuel 
purposes  in  the  city  of  Pittsburgh,  was  fifteen  to  twenty  mill- 
ion cubic  feet.  The  Consolidated  Fuel  Gas  and  Penn  Fuel 
companies  were  delivering  from  Murraysville,  through  four 
lines  of  pipe,  ten  million  cubic  feet  per  day.  Another  line 
then  building  was  intended  to  increase  the  flow  to  fifteen  or 
seventeen  million  cubic  feet.  The  Washington  Gas  company 
had  a  pipe  line  twenty  miles  in  length  from  the  famous  Mc- 
Gingan  well  in  Washington  County.  To  this  they  were  add- 
ing an  eight-inch  line,  which  would  increase  their  capacity  to 
five  million  feet.  The  Philadelphia  company  was  then  con- 
structing three  gigantic  lines — one  from  Murraysville,  another 
from  Tarentum,  and  a  third  from  the  famous  Westinghouse 
wells  at  Homewood,  within  the  city  limits.  These  lines  would 
have  a  combined  capacity  of  about  thirty  million  feet  per 
day.  The  Carpenter  company  were  arranging  to  deliver  four 
million,  and  the  Chambers  company  three  million  cubic  feet. 


GASEOUS  SUNLIGHT.  147 

Thus  the  enormous  aggregate  of  sixty  million  feet  was  pro- 
vided for;  and  even  this  would  not  exhaust  the  supply 
already  existing.  Sixty-five  to  seventy  million  cubic  feet 
were  daily  wasting — in  the  Murraysville  district  alone. 

The  aggregate  wastage  as  indicated  by  data  still  more  re- 
cent, surpasses  all  which  would  be  suspected  from  the  facts 
given  above.  It  is  alleged  (March,  1886),  that  in  the  entire 
gas  field  about  Pittsburgh,  two  hundred  and  sixty-four  million 
cubic  feet  of  gas  are  daily  wasted.  One  thousand  cubic  feet 
are  estimated  to  equal  one  bushel  of  coal  in  heating  property. 
This  would  make  an  equivalent  of  two  hundred  and  sixty- 
four  thousand  bushels  of  coal  burned  in  the  air  each  day.  A 
miner  can,  on.  an  average,  dig  seventy  bushels  of  coal  a  day. 
The  waste  then,  would  be,  in  round  numbers,  equal  to  the 
daily  work  of  thirty-eight  hundred  miners — or  about  the  whole 
number  employed  in  the  Pittsburgh  district. 

This  gas  is  a  complex  mixture  of  hydrocarbons.  It  di£ 
fers  from  coal-gas,  as  also  from  gas  made  from  petroleum.  Its 
main  ingredient  is  "Marsh  gas,"  which,  next  to  hydrogen, 
is  the  lightest  substance  known,  consisting  of  seventy-five  per 
cent  of  carbon  and  twenty-five  per  cent  of  hydrogen,  and  hav- 
ing a  specific  gravity  of  0.5576,  that  of  air  being  unity.  The 
mixed  natural  gas  has  a  specific  gravity  ranging  from  0.51  to 
0.7.  That  supplied  to  Pittsburg  may  be  averaged  at  0.6, 
from  which  it  would  appear  that  the  gas  for  which  provision 
was  making  in  1884,  was  equivalent  to  about  forty-nine  hun- 
dred tons  of  bituminous  coal  in  heating  capacity. 

For  heating  purposes,  natural  gas  excels  coal  gas  thirty- 
three  and  one-third  per  cent.  Used  in  the  crude  way  twenty 
cubic  feet  of  gas  equal  one  pound  of  coal.  Used  in  the  ordi- 
nary way,  11.29  cubic  feet  equal  one  pound  or  coal.  Used 
in  the  most  economical  way,  8.92  cubic  feet  equal  one  pound 
of  coal.  For  illuminating  purposes  it  possesses  only  half  the 
value  of  good  coal  gas;  although  it  has  been  asserted  of 
the  Fredonia  gas  that  it  equals  coal  gas  in  respect  to  intensity 
of  light,  and  is  consumed  but  half  as  fast. 

The  industrial  changes  effected  in  the  city  of  Pittsburgh  by 


148  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

the  use  of  natural  gas,  are  of  a  revolutionary  character.  In 
the  city  and  surrounding  country,  not  less  than  ten  million 
dollars  have  been  invested  within  a  year,  said  a  writer  in 
1884.  "  A  year  ago  the  business  was  insignificant;  to-day,  it 
ranks  in  importance  with  the  iron,  steel,  glass,  and  coal  inter- 
ests of  western  Pennsylvania.  There  are  at  present  ten  iron 
and  steel  mills  in  this  city  using  this  gas  in  their  puddling 
furnaces  and  under  their  boilers ;  a  dozen  more  are  busy  mak- 
ing arrangements  for  its  introduction,  and  almost  every  manu- 
facturing firm  using  steam  is  awaiting  the  completion  of  the 
necessary  pipe  lines.  Six  glass  factories  in  the  city,  and  seven 
others  in  the  immediate  vicinity  are  using  it.  Every  brewer 
in  the  city  uses  it.  Two  of  the  largest  hotels  use  it  exclu- 
sively for  cooking  purposes.  For  general  household  use,  on 
account  of  its  cheapness,  cleanliness,  and  convenience  of  ap- 
plication, it  has  no  rival." 

The  city  of  Buffalo  is  also  said  to  be  laying  pipe  lines  for 
gas  from  the  Pennsylvania  gas  districts. 

Our  modern  forests  are  the  chief  producers  of  fuel  in 
human  times.  The  sea  supports  a  vast  amount  of  vegetation  ; 
but  we  have  not  learned  how  to  apply  it  to  the  production  of 
heat.  Yet,  strange  as  it  seems,  the  sea-weeds  which  waved 
their  graceful  fronds  in  the  oceans  of  millions  of  years  ago, 
are  smelting  the  iron  for  the  pipes  destined  to  bring  their 
transformed  constituents  to  the  sites  of  gigantic  industries, 
and  warming  the  dwellings  of  the  populations  which  con- 
duct them. 

Will  these  marvelous  supplies  hold  out?  That  is  the 
question  which  the  owners  of  the  millions  invested  are 
anxiously  asking.  Probably,  as  has  been  proved  with  petro- 
leum, particular  wells  will  gradually  diminish  in  supply; 
many  will  cease  to  yield ;  some  will  continue  indefinitely. 
But  probably,  also,  as  in  the  case  of  petroleum,  new  supplies 
will  be  discovered,  and  even  increasing  demands  will  be  met 
for  many  years  in  the  future. 


SOLIDIFIED  SUNLIGHT.  149 


XXVI.    SOLIDIFIED 

COAL   AND   COAL-BEDS. 

I  SIT  by  my  genial  grate,  this  pinching  winter  evening, 
and  watch  the  play  of  the  flames  which  leap  from  the  coal 
and  play  with  the  draughts  of  air  passing  up  the  chimney. 
Here  is  comfort — here  is  peace.  How  the  fierce  wind  howls 
about  the  windows  while  I  enjoy  this  life-sustaining  warmth. 
Curious,  is  this  coal — this  combustible  rock,  wonderful,  and 
abounding  in  suggestions.  This  warmth  is  yielded  by  com- 
bustion. This  rock  burns  up.  That  which  burns  up  is  essen- 
tially carbon,  or  a  hydrocarbon.  It  is  so  with  petroleum ;  it 
is  so  with  gas;  it  is  so  with  coal.  The  source  of  uncombined 
carbon  is  in  vegetation.  Our  carbonates,  like  limestone,  con- 
tain carbon  ;  but  it  is  combined  with  oxygen  ;  it  is  already 
appropriated,  not  free — not  in  a  condition  to  be  burned.  The 
coal  must  be  composed  of  free  carbon,  to  a  large  extent — 
mingled,  probably  with  some  hydrocarbon.  Carbon,  as  we  see 
in  charcoal,  burns  without  any  brilliant  flame,  and  without 
smoke.  Hydrocarbon,  as  we  see  in  kerosene  and  illuminating 
gas,  burns  with  a  bright  flame.  The  coal  in  the  grate  emits  a 
moderately  brilliant  flame.  It  is  a  mass  of  carbon  saturated  with 
some  liquid  or  gaseous,  or  perhaps,  bituminous,  hydrocarbon. 
In  any  event,  we  are  induced  to  trace  its  carbon  to  a  vege- 
table origin. 

Now,  if  we  look  over  a  pile  of  coal  we  shall  probably  de- 
tect some  indications  of  vegetable  tissue.  In  some  coals  of 
the  soft  kind,  we  may  find  masses  of  woody  fiber — black  and 
brilliant,  like  some  charcoal.  In  some  of  the  shale  attached 
to  pieces  of  coal,  or  mingled  with  the  coal,  are  some  impres- 
sions like  fern-fronds.  If  we  go  to  the  mines,  we  even  dis- 
cover stems  of  moderate  sized  trees  imbedded  in  the  shales 
above  the  coal,  and  occasionally  in  the  coal  itself.  Again,  if 
we  prepare  exceedingly  thin  slices  of  coal,  and  remove  the 
black  matter  by  proper  treatment,  we  may  detect,  by  means 
of  the  microscope,  minute  structures,  such  as  belong  to  vege- 
tation. All  these  circumstances  then,  conspire  to  convince  us 


150  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

that  the  coal  is  of  vegetable  origin,  and  much  of  it  from  tree- 
like vegetation.  With  other  observations  we  detect,  many 
times,  innumerable  spores  scattered  through  the  coal.  These 
are  cells  produced  by  vegetation  which  is  flowerless.  They 
answer  for  the  fruit,  but  are  not  fruit,  as  the  term  is  usually 
employed.  The  coal  vegetation,  therefore,  was  without  flow- 
ers or  fruits.  Much  of  it,  as  we  readily  discover,  was  of  the 
nature  of  ferns — some  of  them  tree-ferns,  such  as  grow  in  our 
times,  in  some  tropical  regions.  If  we  were  to  search  further 
we  should  find  traces  of  vegetation  resembling  our  Horsetails 
and  Ground  Pines.  So  we  may  regard  ourselves  quite  justi- 
fied in  concluding  that  the  coal  which  blazes  and  cheers  on 
the  grate,  was  once  in  the  condition  of  a  flowerless  tree,  rooted 
in  an  ancient  soil,  spreading  its  green  fronds  to  the  sunlight, 
decomposing  the  carbonic  acid  of  the  atmosphere,  fixing  the 
carbon  in  its  own  tissues,  and  setting  oxygen  free. 

So,  the  sun  was  shining  in  the  heavens  so  long  a  time  ago. 
The  plans  of  vegetable  structure  were  in  existence,  and  the 
forces  of  vegetable  growth.  How  long  have  those  plans  en- 
dured !  How  imperishable  are  the  thoughts  embodied  in  those 
plans,  and  expressed  by  them  !  The  tree  stood  upright  in  the 
soil ;  it  drank  in  water  by  its  roots,  and  bathed  its  foliage  in 
the  primeval  air.  It  built  its  stem  and  fronds  with  fibers  and 
cells  like  the  modern  fern.  The  sun  stimulated  it  into  action. 
The  sun's  warmth  imparted  strength  to  discharge  its  functions. 
The  sun's  emanations  of  light  and  heat  became  transformed 
into  stem  and  frond  and  tissue.  Whatever  vicissitudes  that 
growth  may  since  have  undergone,  the  same  eliminated  carbon 
is  there ;  much  of  the  same  tissue  form  is  there;  it  is  the  same 
transformed  sunlight  that  it  was  millions  of  years  ago.  It  is 
ancient'  sunlight  that  has  been  locked  up  like  a  treasure  and 
buried  in  the  earth  for  ages.  Here,  in  this  flame,  the  tissue- 
substance  goes  back  to  its  primeval  condition — it  becomes 
again  carbonic  acid,  and  mingles  again  in  the  atmosphere  from 
which  it  was  selected.  Here,  in  this  flame,  the  old  warmth 
reappears;  it  is  the  warmth  of  the  sun  which  shone  in  the 
Carboniferous  Age.  Here,  in  this  flame,  the  old  sunlight  is 


SOLIDIFIED  SUNLIGHT.  151 

regenerated ;  this  is  the  very  sunlight  which  became  latent  in 
vegetable  cells  so  long  ago.  It  is  locked-up  sunlight  set  free 
after  a  long  imprisonment.  It  is  the  wasting  sunlight  of  an 
age  when  its  blessings  were  not  appreciated,  packed  away  and 
preserved  to  an  age  when  man  should  dwell  on  the  earth  to 
appreciate  its  uses  and  make  it  an  agent  of  exquisite  comfort 
and  high  civilization. 

There  are  several  varieties  of  coal ;  let  us  look  them  over. 
Perhaps  you  will  smile  when  I  tell  you  that  the  plumbago  of 
your  pencil  is  essentially  carbon.  So  it  is.  All  your  pencil- 
ings  are  strictly  "  charcoal  sketches."  We  can  take  common 
coal  and  by  subjecting  it  to  pressure  and  heat  while  excluded 
from  the  air,  convert  it  into  something  much  like  plumbago. 
It  often  occurs  in  iron-furnaces.  This  is  sometimes  called 
black  lead ;  but  it  contains  no  lead  ;  its  more  appropriate  name 
is  graphite.  It  is  found  among  the  metamorphic  rocks. 
Whatever  it  was,  it  has  been  pressed  and  baked  and  boiled 
through  the  same  processes  which  have  so  transformed  the 
original  Eozoic  sediments.  Since  graphite  can  be  prepared 
from  coal,  we  may  safely  assume  that  graphite  is  only  meta- 
morphic coal.  Indeed,  there  are  regions  where  graphite  occurs 
in  the  same  formation  which  in  other  regions  we  know  as 
Coal  Measures.  But  the  strata  are  all  metamorphic.  Most 
graphite,  however,  belongs  to  a  remoter  geological  age.  We 
find  it  in  Vermont  and  most  of  the  New  England  States ; 
also  in  northern  New  York  and  many  other  American  and 
foreign  localities.  It  can  only  be  burned  at  a  high  tem- 
perature. 

Next  in  respect  to  hardness  and  difficulty  of  combus- 
tion is  anthracite.  This  breaks  in  irregular  lumps,  with  shin- 
ing surfaces,  and  burns  with  only  a  feeble  bluish  flame.  It 
has  a  relatively  high  specific  gravity,  and  furnishes  more  heat 
per  ton  than  any  other  species  of  coal.  Anthracite  is  found 
in  situations  where  it  appears  to  have  been  subjected  to  a 
baking  and  hardening  process  which  has  driven  off  most  of 
the  volatile  hydrocarbons  found  in  other  coals.  In  the  United 
States,  south-eastern  Pennsylvania  is  the  chief  anthracite 


152  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

region.  It  has  afforded  an  enormous  quantity,  and  some  of  the 
best  varieties  are  said  to  be  about  worked  out. 

The  other  varieties  of  coal  are  bituminous.  That  is,  they 
contain  hydrocarbons  partly  of  the  nature  of  bitumen.  But 
the  term  as  a  designation  for  a  variety  is  restricted  to  the  black 
coals  occurring  in  the  region  east  of  the  Rocky  mountains, 
chiefly  in  the  Palaeozoic  System.  In  structure  they  are  dis- 
tinctly stratified — sometimes  with  films  of  earthy  matter 
between  the  laminae.  They  are  apt  to  break  in  flattish  or  thin 
fragments,  and  they  possess  an  earthy  or  resinous  luster. 
They  burn  with  much  bright  flame  which  arises  from  the 
hydrocarbons  expelled  and  ignited.  These  coals  are  the  source 
of  the  illuminating  gas  of  our  cities. 

From  the  typical  bituminous  coals  we  may  separate  the 
Cannd  Coals.  These  have  an  earthy  luster,  a  fine  compact 
constitution,  and  are  often  thick  bedded,  with  only  obscure 
stratification  within  the  bed.  They  burn  freely  and  brightly 
when  rich,  and  were  used  in  the  earliest  manufacture  of 
illuminating  gas  and  kerosene,  or  "coal  oil."  This  manu- 
facture had  attained  a  prosperous  stage  of  development  when 
the  discovery  of  the  large  supplies  of  petroleum  caused  its 
ruin.  Cannel  coal  has  no  standard  degree  of  purity.  It 
consists  of  carbonaceous  and  aluminous  particles  mixed  in 
varying  proportions.  It  degenerates,  on  one  hand,  to  a  mere 
black  shale,  and  on  the  other,  attains  a  state  in  which  it  is 
almost  free  from  earthy  admixture. 

Among  the  typical  bituminous  coals,  we  distinguish  the 
caldng  and  the  non-caking.  The  former  when  ignited,  seem  to 
fry  with  an  exudation  of  a  fluid  bitumen,  which  evolves  much 
gas  and  hardens  into  a  crust  somewhat  impervious  to  the  air, 
and  thus  obstructing  the  draft.  The  latter  burn  freely,  with- 
out an  incrustation. 

Besides  the  Paleozoic  bituminous  coals  we  find  excellent 
Mesozoic  bituminous  coals.  These  are  solid,  but  less  valuable 
than  the  others  ;  though  they  are  a  boon  to  many  regions 
otherwise  scantily  supplied  with  fuel.  Of  this  kind  is  the  coal 
mined  near  Richmond,  Virginia,  and  in  the  Deep  river 


SOLIDIFIED  SUNLIGHT.  153 

region  of  North  Carolina ;  also  the  excellent  coal  of  Wyoming 
Territory,  and  that  of  similar  excellence  in  Washington  Terri- 
tory, in  the  Cascade  mountains.  The  latter  exists  in  great 
abundance  and  of  several  varieties,  one  of  which  has  the  ap- 
pearance of  anthracite.  It  is  widely  exported — to  San  Fran- 
cisco and  the  Hawaiian  islands. 

Brown  Coal  is  of  Csenozoic  age.  It  is  next  in  order  of 
hardness  and  value.  It  varies,  however,  from  a  variety  quite 
firm  and  compact,  with  a  blackish  color,  to  varieties  of  brown 
color  and  composed  distinctly  of  vegetable  fragments. 

Peat  is  a  vegetable  accumulation  formed  at  the  present 
surface,  from  mosses,  leaves,  and  sticks,  and  is  not  yet  consoli- 
dated into  the  condition  of  a  coal.  It  is  used,  however, 
extensively  as  a  fuel,  especially  on  the  continent  of  Europe, 
where  the  traveler  may  see  it  cut  out  in  blocks  and  piled  up 
like  bricks  drying  in  the  sun.  The  city  of  Paris  is  warmed 
chiefly  by  peat.  Many  efforts  have  been  made  in  America  to 
reduce  peat  to  a  cheap  and  efficient  fuel ;  but  for  the  present, 
it  is  unable  to  compete  with  our  other  natural  combustibles. 

Coal  occurs  in  strata — not  in  veins — interbedded  with  sedi- 
mentary rocks.  Shales,  clays,  and  sandstones  exist  extensively 
in  Coal  Measures ;  and  in  some  regions,  limestones  are  inter- 
stratified.  The  latter  contain  fossil  shells,  and  are  manifestly 
of  marine  origin.  The  coal  must  have  been  produced  on  the 
land.  Some  of  the  .clays  are  apparently  the  soil  in  which 
the  vegetation  grew,  since  the  roots  are  found  extending  into 
them.  The  shales  were  deposited  in  quiet,  muddy  waters, 
within  easy  reach  of  the  products  of  the  land,  since  they  con- 
tain immense  quantities  of  fronds  and  other  vegetable  matters, 
generally  in  a  fine  state  of  preservation. 

In  regions  somewhat  disturbed,  like  Pennsylvania,  the 
strata  of  coal  make  outcrops  like  limestones,  shales,  and  sand- 
stones. Mining  is  then  prosecuted  from  the  "crop"  by 
carrying  an  excavation  or  drift  along  the  slope  of  the  coal 
stratum.  If  possible,  the  place  is  so  selected  that  the  slope 
may  ascend  from  the  mouth,  so  that  the  water  reached  may 
flow  out  spontaneously.  If  this  is  not  practicable,  then  pump- 


154  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

ing  must  be  resorted  to,  and  this  sometimes  becomes  enor- 
mously expensive.  In  regions  where  the  strata  repose  in 
nearly  horizontal  positions,  the  underlying  coal  beds  are 
reached  through  vertical  shafts.  In  such  cases,  pumping 
machinery  is  essential.  Not  unfrequently,  one  shaft  is  extended 
down  to  a  second  or  third  bed  of  coal.  In  any  case,  after  the 
coal  is  reached,  chambers  or  galleries  are  excavated  in  rectan- 
gular directions  in  the  bed.  The  roof  is  supported  by  large 
blocks  of  coal  left  undisturbed.  After  most  of  the  coal  has 
been  thus  removed,  the  supporting  blocks  are  worked  out  suc- 
cessively, and  the  roof  of  the  mine  may  be  permitted  to 
fall  in. 


AMONG  THE  FOSSILS. 


XXVII.  MONSTERS  OF*  A.  BURIKD  WORL,D. 

EXTINCT   QUATERNARY   MAMMALS. 

"Ms.  JOHN  SMITH,  of  the  town  of  Sharon,  in  digging  a 
ditch  to  drain  a  swamp  on  his  farm,  exhumed  some  very  large 
bones  which  must  have  lain  buried  for  many  thousand  years. 
They  appear  to  be  the  bones  of  a  giant.  They  will  be  offered 
to  the  University  for  sale." 

"Mr.  Peter  Jones  discovered  last  week  in  a  peat  bed,  a 
nearly  complete  skeleton  of  some  antediluvian  monster.  Mr. 
Jones  will  have  the  skeleton  set  up  as  soon  as  possible,  and 
will  then  start  on  a  tour  of  exhibition.  He  feels  confident 
there  is  a  fortune  in  these  bones." 

The  above  are  samples  of  paragraphs  frequently  appearing 
in  the  newspapers.  They  indicate  that  the  peat  bogs  of  our 
country  contain  many  relics  of  beings  no  longer  in  existence, 
and  no  longer  remembered.  Those,  however,  who  have  had 
much  intercourse  with  the  aborigines  of  the  country,  inform 
us  that  a  tradition  exists  of  an  immense  quadruped — *  *  the 


MONSTERS  OF  A  BURIED  WORLD.  155 

bison's  grandfather" — which,  many  moons  ago,  thundered 
across  the  plains,  and  sent  terror  to  the  heart  of  the  savage. 
The  Great  Man,  they  say,  slew  them,  because  they  were  de- 
stroying the  Indians'  game.  That  these  creatures  existed 
down  to  the  period  of  Indian  occupation  is  evinced  also,  by 
the  discovery  of  arrow-heads  buried  in  the  same  peats  with 
these  bones,  or  in  peats  at  greater  depths  even  than  some 
which  conceal  the  bones. 

Such  relics  have  been  discovered  also,  in  the  Old  World, 
and  former  generations  have  been  strongly  inclined  to  attrib- 
ute them  to  a  race  of  giants  now  extinct.  An  intelligent  in- 
spection of  these  bones,  however,  shows  that  they  never  be- 
longed to  human  giants,  and  can  not,  therefore,  be  the  re- 
mains or  testimonials  of  the  "giants"  of  antediluvian  times. 
Modern  science  has  shown  that  they  belonged  to  elephant-like 
creatures,  of  two  different  genera.  One  of  these  was  the  true 
Elephant,  and  the  other  is  known  as  Mastodon.  The  Masto- 
don has  not  been  seen  during  historic  times ;  but  we  conclude 
from  the  relics  remaining,  that  it  was  very  similar  to  the 
Elephant,  and  differed  chiefly  in  the  structure  of  the  grinding 
teeth.  The  molars  of  the  Elephant  are  enormously  large,  and 
only  one  is  in  use  in  each  jaw  on  each  side,  at  one  time.  It 
may  be  regarded,  however,  as  a  compound  tooth,  consisting 
of  ten  or  twenty  simple  flat  teeth  standing  closely,  and  firmly 
compacted  together  by  means  of  a  substance  called  cement. 
The  molar  of  the  Mastodon  has  more  the  appearance  of  an 
ordinary  tooth,  with  three,  four,  or  five  transverse  promi- 
nences, rising  like  steep  and  furrowed  ranges  of  mountains.  It 
is  smaller  than  the  elephant  molar ;  and  three  or  four  were  in 
use  at  once  on  each  side  of  each  jaw. 

Commonly,  as  already  indicated,  the  bones  of  the  extinct 
Elephant  and  Mastodon  have  been  discovered  in  peat  deposits. 
Such  deposits  are  explained  in  Talk  VIII,  and  rest  upon  the 
top  of  the  Drift,  and  are  more  recent  than  the  Drift.  But  in 
Europe  bones  of  the  Elephant  have  sometimes  been  met  with 
in  the  modified  Drift.  They  also  occur  in  many  caverns  which 
are  believed  to  have  been  occupied  by  wild  beasts  in  the 


156  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

Drift  epoch.  We  may  conclude,  therefore,  that  the  Elephant 
came  down  from  the  Tertiary  Age.  Indeed,  we  shall  see 
from  the  facts  to  be  stated  in  the  next  Talk,  that  both  Ele- 
phant and  Mastodon  began  to  exist  before  the  Quaternary  Age. 
Some  very  remarkable  facts  have  come  to  light  from 
northern  Siberia.  That  inhospitable  region  was  once  a  home 
for  tropic  loving  Elephants.  More  than  a  hundred  years  ago, 
not  only  their  ivory,  but  their  carcasses,  were  known  to  exist 
in  Siberia  imbedded  in  solid  ice.  The  first  discovery  was  on 
the  borders  of  the  Aleseia  River,  wrhich  flows  into  the  Arctic 
Ocean  beyond  the  Indigirka.  The  body  was  still  standing 
erect,  and  was  almost  perfect.  The  skin  remained  in  place, 
and  the  hair  and  fur  were  still  attached  in  spots.  In  1772, 
the  body  of  a  perfect  two-toed  rhinoceros  covered  with  hair, 
was  found  preserved  in  frozen  gravel  near  the  Vilhoui  or 
Wiljui,  a  tributary  of  the  Lena,  in  latitude  64°.  The  head 
and  feet  of  this  animal — also  related  to  tropical  species — are 
preserved  in  St.  Petersburg.  The  most  celebrated  discovery 
was  made  in  1799.  A  Tungusian  fisherman  named  Schuma- 
choff  was  exploring  along  the  coast  of  the  frozen  ocean  for 
ivory.  Near  the  mouth  of  the  Lena  he  noticed,  in  a  huge 
block  of  clear  glacier  ice,  a  dark,  strange  object  deeply  im- 
bedded. His  half  savage  curiosity  was  not  strong  enough  to 
lead  him  to  undertake  the  work  of  exploration.  In  1801  the 
melting  of  the  ice  had  exposed  a  portion  of  the  carcass.  It 
was  a  beast  like  those  whose  ivory  lay  strewn  along  those 
frozen  shores.  In  1804,  the  Tungusian  was  able  to  remove 
the  tusks.  They  weighed  three  hundred  pounds,  and  he  dis- 
posed of  them  for  fifty  rubles,  to  an  ivory  merchant.  In 
1806,  Mr.  Adams,  who  was  collecting  for  the  imperial  museum 
at  St.  Petersburg,  found  the  carcass  still  on  the  shore,  but 
greatly  mutilated.  It  appeared  that  the  Yakutski  had  actu- 
ally regaled  their  dogs  upon  the  flesh ;  and  bears,  wolves,  wol- 
verines, and  foxes  had  gladly  feasted  upon  it !  Fresh  meat 
already  laid  away  in  ice  before  that  garden  was  planted  in 
Eden !  Thus  this  priceless  relic  of  a  prehistoric  world  was 
allowed  to  waste  away.  But  it  was  not  completely  lost  to 


MONSTERS  OF  A  BURIED  WORLD.  157 

science ;  for  except  one  fore-leg,  the  skeleton  remained  perfect. 
A  large  part  of  the  skin  had  also  escaped  destruction,  together 
with  one  of  the  ears,  which  still  retained  its  characteristic  tuft 
of  hairs.  The  skin  was  of  a  dark  tint  and  was  covered  ^ith 
reddish  wool  an  inch  in  length,  interspersed  with  reddish- 
brown  hairs  four  inches  long,  and  sparser  black  bristles  twelve 
to  sixteen  inches  long.  Every  thing  of  value  was  now  col- 
lected, including  more  than  thirty  pounds  of  fur ;  the  tusks 
were  repurchased,  and  the  whole  was  transported  to  St.  Peters- 
burg, where  the  mounted  specimen  at  present  stands,  in  the 
Imperial  Museum.  This  individual  was  nine  feet  high  and 
sixteen  feet  long,  exclusive  of  the  tusks. 

Other  discoveries  have  been  made  more  recently.  In  1843, 
a  mammoth  was  found  by  Middendorf  in  so  perfect  a  state 
that  the  bulb  of  the  eye  is  still  preserved  in  the  museum  at 
Moscow.  In  1858,  a  mammoth  was  discovered  in  the  delta 
of  the  Lena,  twenty-three  miles  from  Sagastyr.  The  head 
and  tusks  had  already  been  removed  by  a  Russian  merchant. 
The  Yakuts  soon  after  the  discovery  took  a  leg,  several  ribs 
for  making  spoons,  parts  of  the  skin  for  straps,  and  fat  for 
painting  their  sledges.  The  body  was  reported  in  1884  as 
lying  on  its  side  in  the  lower  part  of  a  crag  of  alluvial  de- 
posits thirty  feet  high.  Dr.  Bunge,  who  undertook  to  exca- 
vate on  the  spot,  found  the  material  a  frozen  mass  of  snow 
"as  hard  as  sugar."  Still  another  mammoth  was  discovered 
in  1878  on  the  Moloda  River,  a  tributary  of  the  Lena,  which 
it  joins  on  the  left  thirty  miles  above  Siktyakh.  We  shall 
have  to  inquire,  hereafter,  what  was  the  nature  of  the  catas- 
trophe which  buried  these  huge  quadrupeds  in  their  common 
tomb  of  ice. 

The  same  Mammoth  dwelt  in  Alaska.  His  tusks  are  ex- 
tensively sought  and  sold  for  ivory.  This  utilization  of  the 
ivory  products  of  an  age  in  which  civilization  had  not  yet  ap- 
peared, to  learn  the  value  of  the  product,  recalls  our  reflec- 
tion on  the  fossilization  of  sunlight  for  a  more  auspicious 
period. 

The  great  original  skeleton  standing  in  the  Museum  at 


158  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

St.  Petersburg  was  duplicated  at  Stuttgart  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Dr.  Fraas,  from  various  bones  collected  from  different 
parts  of  Europe.  Dr.  Fraas,  from  samples  of  skin  and  hair 
still  existing,  ventured  to  give  the  extinct  Mammoth  a  com- 
plete restoration.  Professor  Ward,  the  great  museum-builder 
of  America,  saw  this  monster  of  Mammoths  standing  in  the 
Museum  at  Stuttgart  and  purchased  it.  Transporting  it  to 
Rochester,  he  reared  a  duplicate,  which  stood  for  months  in  the 
Ward  Museum,  where  I  had  the  opportunity  of  subjecting  the 
creature  to  a  careful  study.  Let  us  go  back  and  repeat  the  visit. 

"  As  we  enter  the  door  of  the  building  which  has  been 
erected  for  the  accommodation  of  this  antediluvian,  a  dark 
mountain  of  flesh  rises  before  us.  We  had  gauged  our  ap- 
prehension to  the  familiar  bulk  of  the  elephant,  but  here  the 
eye  must  be  lifted  to  a  higher  altitude;  the  whole  thought 
must  swell  to  take  in  the  idea  of  the  towering  form  which 
looms  above  us  and  frowns  darkly  and  severely  down  upon  us. 
The  monster's  brow  rises  like  some  old  granite  dome,  weather- 
beaten  and  darkened  by  the  lapse  of  geologic  ages.  Two 
winding  streams  of  ivory  descend  like  glaciers  from  the  base 
of  the  dome,  while  the  corrugated  and  beetling  proboscis 
swells  between  them  like  the  embattled  crest  which  divides 
two  Alpine  glacier- torrents.  Behind  expands  and  uprises  the 
mountain  mass  of  which  these  are  the  accessories.  Serene  and 
motionless  as  Mont  Blanc  this  majestic  form  stands  awaiting 
our  wonder  and  adoration.  No  astonishment  disconcerts  it ; 
no  exclamations  stir  a  feature. 

Unlike  the  dumb  mountain,  however,  this  form  seems  in 
a  mood  of  contemplation.  All  this  dark  and  towering  mass 
is  conscious.  There  are  eyes  which  open  on  us  and  take  cog- 
nizance of  our  movements ;  there  are  ears  which  take  in  the 
sounds  of  our  voice.  This  creature  contemplates  us;  he 
throws  a  spell  over  us ;  he  has  us  in  his  power. 

The  mammoth !  aye  the  mammoth  of  mammoths  !  With 
long  breath,  after  this  suspense  of  amazement,  we  extricate 
ourselves  from  his  spell,  and  meet  his  overpowering  stare 
with  the  force  of  intelligent  will.  He  is  but  a  beast — let  us 


MONSTERS  OF  A  BURIED  WORLD.  159 

analyze  the  sources  of  his  power  over  us.  He  stands  sixteen 
feet  in  height.  His  extreme  length  is  twenty-six  feet,  and 
the  distance  between  the  tips  of  his  tusks  is  fourteen  feet. 
His  body  is  thirty  feet  in  circumference  close  to  the  skin. 
The  sole  of  his  foot  is  three  feet  in  diameter.  His  tusks  are 
fourteen  feet  long  and  one  foot  in  diameter  at  base.  Between 
his  short,  post-like  fore-legs  a  man  can  stand  upright  with 
his  hat  on,  without  touching  the  animal's  body.  The  whole 
exterior  is  clothed  with  dark  shaggy  hair,  quite  unlike  the 
modern  elephants,  and  under  the  throat  it  attains  a  length  of 
twelve  to  fifteen  inches." 

Here  the  old  Siberian  Mammoth  enjoys  his  bodily  resur- 
rection. Dr.  Fraas  was  the  angel  of  the  resurrection,  and 
has  made  him  as  nearly  as  possible  like  his  ancient  self.  Dr. 
Fraas  is  an  eminent  anatomist  and  geologist,  and  we  trust  his 
judgment  and  his  veracity. 

Europe,  Asia,  and  America  had  their  Mammoth  and  Mas- 
todon in  the  Quaternary  Age ;  and  their  bones  and  carcasses 
still  lie  preserved  in  Drift  deposits  to  testify  to  their  existence. 
South  America,  however,  had  its  MegatJwrium,  its  Mylodon, 
its  Scelidotfierium,  and  other  strange  giants  of  the  order  known 
as  Edentates.  These  have  been  found  imbedded  in  the  "  Pam- 
pean  Formation,"  which  extends  from  Brazil  nearly  to  the 
Straits  of  Magellan.  It  is  mostly  a  level  and  sparsely  wooded 
plain,  covered  by  a  rich  soil  underlaid  by  gravel  and  sand. 
Numerous  marine  remains  indicate  that  it  was  covered  by  the 
sea  during  a  period  geologically  recent.  In  this  formation 
have  been  found  the  ponderous  bones  of  a  colossal  ground- 
sloth,  now  known  as  Megatherium.  The  first  relics  were  dis- 
covered in  1789,  near  the  city  of  Buenos  Ayres.  A  nearly 
complete  skeleton  was  sent  to  Madrid,  where  it  still  stands,  the 
chief  scientific  attraction  of  the  Spanish  capital.  Through 
various  other  discoveries,  entire  skeletons  have  been  recon- 
structed, the  most  perfect  of  which  stands  in  the  British  Mu- 
seum. Plaster  copies  of  this  have  been  made  under  the  di- 
rection of  Professor  Ward,  and  the  Megatherium  is  now  a 
familiar  sight  in  American  museums.  A  restoration  complete 


160  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

was  attempted  by  Waterhouse  Hawkins,  and  cuts  of  this  are 
now  found  in  most  of  the  text-books. 

This  was  one  of  the  most  anomalous  creatures  of  the  strange 
past.  It  was  one  of  the  last  of  the  great  "  comprehensive  types  " 
which  appeared  in  the  progress  of  the  history  of  life,  and  of 
which  you  will  hear  much,  as  we  trace  this  history  backward. 
It  was  studied  by  the  great  Cuvier,  among  many  others,  and 
he  first  revealed  its  true  affinities.  Some  regarded  it  as  tree- 
inhabiting;  some  thought  it  subterranean;  Owen  decided  that 
it  must  have  lived  upon  the  ground.  As  represented  by 
Hawkins,  it  stands  semi-erect,  resting  on  its  massive  hinder- 
extremities,  with  auxiliary  support  from  a  vast  pillar-like  tail, 
with  anterior  extremities  clasping  the  trunk  of  a  tree  and 
relatively  diminutive  head  and  tapir-like  snout  turned  up- 
ward toward  the  foliage  which  probably  served  as  its  food. 

The  length  of  the  skull  is  thirty-one  inches ;  its  breadth, 
eighteen.  The  brain-box  is  very  small  for  the  bulk  of  the 
animal.  The  molar  teeth  have  hollow  fangs  for  continuous 
growth,  as  in  the  sloth  and  many  modern  rodents.  The 
spinal  column  is  15J  feet  long.  The  circumference  of  the 
skeleton  at  the  eighth  rib  is  ten  feet.  The  scapula  is  a  vast 
expanse  of  bone  two  and  a  half  feet  long.  The  distal  (farther) 
end  of  the  humerus  is  13  inches  wide,  while  that  of  the  ele- 
phant is  only  one-fourth  as  great.  The  pelvis  is  a  mountain 
of  bone.  It  is  far  more  massive  than  that  of  the  elephant  or 
any  known  animal,  living  or  extinct.  Its  extreme  breadth  is 
upward  of  five  feet — that  of  the  Asiatic  elephant  being  six- 
teen inches  less.  The  socket  for  the  head  of  the  femur  pre- 
sents a  surface  of  44  square  inches,  which  is  200  times  the 
same  surface  in  the  pigmy  shrew-mouse.  The  thigh  bone,  in 
the  Mastodon  and  Elephant,  appears  weak  and  slender  com- 
pared with  that  of  the  Megatherium.  It  is  two  feet  two  inches 
in  circumference  at  the  largest  part.  The  hind  legs  look 
more  like  columns  for  the  support  of  a  bridge  than  like  or- 
gans for  locomotion.  The  circumference  of  the  tail  at  its 
largest  part  was  six  feet. 

We  have  to  imagine  this  gigantic  framework  clothed  with 


MONSTERS  OF  A  BURIED  WORLD.  161 

flesh  and  instinct  with  life.  It  towers  before  us  a  huge,  un- 
gainly beast,  eighteen  feet  in  length  and  eight  feet  high,  hav- 
ing a  tapir-like  head,  an  elephantine  body,  and  hind  feet  and 
tail  which  find  no  match  in  geologic  or  historic  time.  Such 
super-mammoth  haunches,  nearly  six  feet  across ;  such  singular, 
half-hoofed,  half-clawed  extremities;  so  slow  and  awkward  in 
his  movements ;  so  stupid  in  look — he  seems  the  lord  of  the 
Pampas.  His  thick  and  callous  hide  is  scantily  clothed  with 
coarse,  stiff  hair.  He  seeks  his  food  from  the  leaves  of  the 
forest.  Other  leaf-eaters  possess  various  provision  for  securing 
their  food.  The  elephant  is  furnished  with  an  elongated  pro- 
boscis. The  giraffe  is  uplifted  on  fore-legs  of  extraordinary 
length,  supplemented  by  a  neck  of  length  equally  extraordi- 
nary, and  lips  and  tongue  co-ordinated  with  other  parts  of  his 
outfit.  The  sloth  ascends  the  tree  and  places  himself  in  the 
midst  of  the  foliage  on  which  he  must  subsist.  Our  Megath- 
erium has  none  of  the  provisions  of  the  elephant  or  giraffe, 
and  is  too  ponderous  to  be  borne  by  the  branches  of  a  tree. 
He  raises  himself  in  a  semi-erect  attitude,  supported  by  that 
tripod  formed  of  tail  and  hind  feet,  and  reaches  with  his  fore- 
limbs  to  the  foliage  and  gathers  it  in.  When  the  supply  falls 
short,  he  employs  his  powerful  effodient  feet  to  hurl  the  earth 
from  the  roots  of  the  tree,  and  bring  it  down  by  his  colossal 
strength.  Then  he  stretches  himself  alongside  of  the  prostrate 
tree  and  gathers  its  foliage  at  his  leisure. 

These  are  samples  of  the  relics  of  the  Quaternary  Age. 
Those  who  become  interested  will  find  further  information  in 
works  on  geology.  In  North  America  are  found  remains  of 
a  pig-like  creature,  a  gigantic  beaver  and  some  Edentates. 
They  are  found  imbedded  in  sand  and  fluviatile  deposits,  ac- 
cumulated, like  the  elephant-bearing  peats,  after  the  Drift. 
The  boulder  Drift  is  mostly  destitute  of  organic  remains. 
Probably  the  severity  of  the  temperature  and  the  prevalence 
of  ice  rendered  animal  life  impossible.  What  the  facts  were, 
it  will  be  our  business  to  ascertain ;  and  by  and  by  we  shall 
be  in  a  position  to  reconstruct  the  story  of  the  times. 

14 


162  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 


2OCVIII.    THE  CElVtETTKRIKS  OR  THE 


TERTIARY  FOSSILS. 

THE  "Bad  Lands"  in  the  dialect  of  the  trapper  and  In- 
dian, are  regions  unfavorable  to  the  pursuit  of  their  occupa- 
tions ;  as  the  snow-covered  slopes  of  the  Alps  are  Monts  mau- 
dits  (cursed  mountains)  in  Savoy,  and  an  unavailable  ridge  in 
the  Pyrenees  is  Monte  maladetta  to  the  Spaniard.  The  Bad 
Lands  of  the  United  States  are  underlaid  by  Tertiary  strata 
which  have  been  worn  and  wasted  in  innumerable  fantastic 
shapes,  and  excavated  on  so  vast  a  scale  as  to  expose  to  view 
the  relics  of  the  creatures  buried  beneath  the  rubbish  of  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  years.  In  order  of  succession  these 
strata  lie  further  than  the  Quaternary  deposits  from  the  com- 
pleted surface.  Still,  there  are  extensive  regions  where  noth- 
ing more  modern  covers  the  wastes  of  the  Bad  Lands  ;  but 
that  is  only  because  the  work  of  geological  building  stood  still 
during  an  epoch. 

Inspect  the  rocks  of  some  Tertiary  district;  we  are  pretty 
sure  to  find  them  horizontal  or  nearly  so.  Along  the  Atlantic 
and  Gulf  coasts,  they  slope  gently  toward  the  sea.  In  some 
parts  of  the  Pacific  coast,  the  Tertiary  strata  have  been  tilted 
to  high  angles  and  subjected  to  metamorphic  action.  In  the 
interior  of  the  continent  they  generally  lie  in  positions  nearly 
horizontal.  Tertiary  strata  which  slope  down  to  the  sea  and 
under  it  —  or  once  had  such  a  slope  —  are  of  marine  origin, 
and  contain  relics  of  marine  populations.  In  the  interior,  we 
find  the  fossil  remains  mostly  those  of  fresh  water  and  the 
land.  In  some  of  the  deepest  Tertiary  of  the  interior,  the 
aquatic  forms  are  brackish-water  species  ;  and  those  from  the 
lowest  beds  are  sometimes  salt  water  species.  These  facts  are 
important  in  setting  in  order  the  history  of  Tertiary  times. 

Let  us  visit  one  of  these  desert  spaces  of  the  continent. 
We  leave  the  valley  of  the  upper  Missouri  and  travel  over- 
laud  across  plains  parched  by  drouth  and  clothed  only  with 
scattered  sage  brush.  The  buffalo  is  not  found  grazing  here; 


THE  CEMETERIES  OP  THE  BAD  LANDS.        163 

birds  and  insects  avoid  the  herbless  waste.  Our  mules  toil  on 
in  the  withering  heat  of  summer,  and  reach  with  weariness 
the  border  of  a  shrunken  stream  on  which  to  encamp.  With 
patient  progress  we  arrive  at  a  region  which  shows  symptoms 
of  a  change  of  scene.  Ahead,  appears  a  less  monotonous  land- 
scape. Some  breaks  in  the  surface  are  revealed.  There,  in 
the  distance,  are  forms  which  remind  us  of  architectural  struc- 
tures. We  seem  to  see  gables  and  towers.  There  rise  the 
vertical  lines  of  columns  and  steeples  and  pinnacles.  Is  this  a 
city  in  the  desert — Persepolis  on  American  soil? 

We  press  on.  The  illusion  dissolves.  Before  us  stretches 
a  wide  excavation,  down  into  the  formations  underneath. 
Where  are  the  materials  removed  from  this  emptied  basin? 
What  power  plowed  up  the  strata  and  carted  away  the  debris? 
We  come  to  the  brink  of  the  basin — a  vast  rock  basin  cut 
through  beds  of  horizontal  shales  and  soft  limestones.  The 
sloping  walls  have  been  worn  for  a  thousand  centuries  by  the 
rills  formed  from  the  winter  rains.  The  fluted  columns  have 
been  grooved  by  water.  The  salient  abutments  have  been 
chiseled  by  the  storm. 

The  rock-layers  are  visible  all  around  the  depression.  We 
descend  to  the  floor  and  trace  their  continuity  from  side  to 
side.  Each  layer  was  once  a  sea-bottom.  But,  behold  the 
relics  of  a  former  population  scattered  over  this  floor.  Here 
are  the  skulls  of  sheep-like  creatures  which  are  also  pig-like ; 
the  carapaces  of  turtles  unlike  any  turtles  living;  the  shin- 
bones  of  rhinoceroses  which  no  longer  roam  in  the  jungle. 
We  turn  our  eyes  again  to  the  rocky  layers,  and  lo!  like 
shelves  of  a  vast  cabinet,  they  hold  the  specimens  which  illus- 
trate a  fauna  passed  away — a  classified  cabinet,  where  each 
shelf  is  stored  with  the  relics  of  its  epoch,  and  the  lower 
shelves  are  filled  with  the  souvenirs  of  the  older  time. 

What  a  place  is  this  for  reflection  !  All  about  us  are  the 
bones  of  extinct  populations.  They  lie  beneath  us;  they  are 
stored  around  us,  and  their  empty  sockets  gaze  out  on  us  with 
startled  astonishment ;  they  rise  above  our  heads.  We  are 
sunken  in  the  center  of  an  ancient  cemetery;  we  have  burst 


164  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

into  the  midst  of  a  sleeping,  dreamy  Golgotha,  descended 
from  the  vast  dead  past.  How  old  are  these  graves?  Through 
how  many  winter  storms  have  these  silent  skeletons  slept  here  ? 
How  they  rise,  story  above  story.  These  bottom  tiers  lay 
down  to  their  long  repose  while  the  great  lake  flapped  its 
waves  above.  Its  fishes  swam  over  cemeteries.  Other 
mute  remains  came  in,  layer  by  layer,  to  the  house  of  silence, 
and  the  hand  of  Nature  carefully  envaulted  them.  The  re- 
ceptacle was  filled;  the  lake  had  vanished;  the  continent 
was  here. 

Life  once  thrilled  through  all  these  torpid  frames.  These 
were  conscious  creatures.  These  were  joyous  creatures  walk- 
ing on  the  green  earth.  These  were  beings  which  inhaled 
the  vital  air,  and  basked  in  the  life-giving  sunlight,  and  en- 
joyed each  other's  society.  They  fed  on  the  productions  of 
the  forest  and  the  glade.  They  wandered  over  a  land  which 
was  to  be  Dakota  and  Nebraska.  They  slaked  their  thirst  at 
the  border  of  the  wide  lake;  they  cooled  themselves  in  its 
waters,  and  sometimes  sported  with  its  waves.  Death  came  to 
them,  as  to  their  thousands  of  predecessors — as  it  comes  to  us. 
They  were  mired  in  a  slough ;  they  were  hunted  in  a  jungle  ; 
they  lay  down  in  the  shade  of  a  friendly  tree ;  some  force  of 
nature  bore  them  to  their  burial.  The  lake  was  their  tomb, 
and  the  lake  preserved  its  trust.  It  was  a  later  vicissitude 
which  opened  the  cemetery  and  exposed  these  testimonies  of  a 
vanished  age  to  the  curious  and  irreverent  scrutiny  of  science. 

The  formation  in  which  these  creatures  are  entombed 
stretches  from  eastern  Nebraska  to  Laramie,  and  from  the 
Cheyenne  River,  Dakota,  into  north-western  Kansas.  It  is 
called  Neocene  or  Upper  Tertiary.  Other  smaller  areas  of 
the  same  exist  in  Colorado,  Wyoming,  Montana,  and  Nevada. 
A  very  large  area  exists  also  in  Oregon  and  Washington  Ter- 
ritory. Upper  Tertiary  strata  also  border  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
from  Mobile  to  the  Rio  Grande,  stretching  inland  a  hundred 
miles,  and  up  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  to  Cairo.  Near 
the  gulf  shore,  however,  and  along  the  Delta  of  the  Missis- 
sippi the  Neocene  is  concealed  by  alluvial  deposits.  Neocene 


THE  CEMETERIES  OF  THE  BAD  LANDS.        165 

Tertiary  stretches  along  the  Atlantic  coast  also,  from  Montauk 
Point  to  the  southern  part  of  Florida — from  Charleston  south- 
ward, however,  overlaid  next  the  shore  by  a  narrow  belt  of 
alluvial  or  recent  deposits.  There  are  few  remains  of  land 
animals  in  the  marine  Tertiary ;  but  shells  and  corals  are 
plentiful.  A  majority  of  them  belong  to  the  same  species  as 
are  now  living  in  the  nearest  parts  of  the  Atlantic.  Near 
Charleston,  however,  have  been  found  the  remains  of  a  horse 
more  resembling  the  domestic  horse  than  those  in  the  Bad 
Lands.  Indeed,  the  Carolina  horse  was  extremely  like  the 
species  long  afterward  brought  to  America  from  Europe.  As 
this  species  is  not  known  in  the  Neocene  of  Europe,  the  indi- 
cations are  that  it  lived  in  America  before  it  did  in  Europe. 
That  is,  the  late  Tertiary  horse  originated  in  America ;  after- 
ward found  its  way  to  Europe  and  Asia,  and  finally  was 
brought  back  to  the  new  world  by  immigrants  in  the  sixteenth 
century.  Almost  the  same  story  has  to  be  told  of  the  camel. 
But  there  are  older  Tertiary  deposits  called  Eocene,  which 
means  the  "  dawn  of  the  recent,"  because  the  marine  shells 
found  in  them  contain  a  few  recent  species,  and  only  a  few, 
while  the  shells  of  all  older  formations  are  specifically  distinct 
from  any  now  living.  The  Eocene  strata  are  seen  passing 
under  the  Neocene  all  along  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  border, 
and  up  the  delta  of  the  Mississippi.  When  these  strata  were 
deposited,  the  Atlantic  and  gulf  extended  to  the  inland  limit 
of  the  Eocene.  The  valley  of  the  Mississippi  as  far. as  Cairo 
was  under  the  Gulf— a  bay  setting  northward  to  Cairo  from 
about  the  latitude  of  Montgomery,  Alabama.  In  this  sea 
sported  the  great  Zeuglodon — a  vertebrate  of  whale-like  nature, 
but  serpent-like  form,  which  on  the  first  discovery  of  its  re- 
mains, was  supposed  to  be  a  real  sea-serpent.  Its  length  was 
sixty  to  eighty  feet.  A  skeleton  dug  up  in  Clarke  County, 
Alabama,  by  Dr.  Koch,  was  named  Hydrarchos — king  of  the 
hydras — and  was  formerly  exhibited  in  Barnum's  Museum, 
New  York — afterward  sent  to  London,  where  Professor 
Richard  Owen  determined  its  true  nature.  Another  specimen 
was  on  exhibition  some  years  ago,  in  Wood's  Museum,  Chi- 


166  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

cago.  The  vertebrae  of  this  curious  whale  are  found  strewn 
over  the  corn  and  cotton  fields  of  Southern  Alabama.  I  have 
seen  them  used  for  andirons  in  the  rude  fireplaces  of  the 
country,  and  set  for  steps  of  a  stile  over  the  front  fence  of 
the  door  yard. 

The  region  underlaid  by  the  Eocene  abounds  in  shells  and 
corals  and  fish-teeth  washed  out  by  the  weather.  The  strata 
are  mostly  friable,  and  some  almost  incoherent.  The  rivers 
and  creeks  have  excavated  deep  channels,  and  thus  caused 
many  fine  exposures.  The  most  celebrated  river  bluffs  in  the 
Alabama  and  Mississippi  Eocene  are  at  Claiborne,  St.  Stephens, 
and  Vicksburg.  All  these  localities  abound  in  fossils,  but 
especially  the  first  and  last  named ;  and  the  fossils  exist  in  a 
perfect  state  of  preservation.  At  St.  Stephens  we  find  the 
"White  Limestone"  which  incloses  the  remains  of  Zeuglodon. 
Eocene  fossils  are  found  in  great  abundance  also,  along  all 
the  creeks  and  ravines,  and  by  the  road  sides.  I  congratulate 
the  reader  who  resides  in  those  regions,  since  his  opportunities 
for  field  study  are  almost  un equaled. 

For  many,  the  remains  inclosed  in  the  fresh-water  Eocene 
of  our  western  territories  possess  still  greater  interest;  for 
they  are  the  bones  and  teeth  of  strange  and  often  gigantic 
quadrupeds  which  dwelt  on  the  land.  In  the  south-western 
part  of  Wyoming,  and  extending  south  to  the  Uinta  mount- 
ains, is  a  great  expanse  of  such  strata.  On  the  south  of  the 
Uinta  mountains  is  another,  extending  south-eastward  into 
Colorado,  and  south  and  south-westward  into  Central  Utah. 
Another  vast  Eocene  region  stretches  from  southern  Colorado 
into  New  Mexico.  It  is  chiefly  from  the  Eocene  of  Wyom- 
ing that  Professor  Marsh  obtained  the  mammalian  bones 
which,  during  many  years  back,  he  has  described  for  the 
astonishment  of  the  world.  Some  very  unique  material,  how- 
ever, was  procured  in  Oregon.  The  equal  work  performed 
by  Professor  Cope,  has  also  been  based  partly  on  specimens 
from  Wyoming,  but  more  largely  on  material  from  New 
Mexico  and  Texas.  These  wide,  western  regions  pastured 
herds  of  herbivores  in  the  early  Tertiary  time,  as  they  have 


LESSON  FROM  A  LUMP  OF  CHALK.  167 

continued  to  do  down  to  the  invasion   of  the  locomotive  and 
the  transformations  of  civilization.  ::;-v-.; 

I  can  not  undertake  to  convey  to  your  comprehension,  in 
a  few  lines,  any  adequate  conception  of  the  aspects  and  char- 
acters of  these  long  extinct  beings.  If  we  speak  only  of 
mammals,  we  can  say  that  they  generally  differed  widely — 
often  grotesquely — from  any  forms  now  living.  It  was  then 
near  the  beginning  of  mammalian  development  on  the  earth. 
Still  those  creatures  presented  unmistakable  resemblances  to 
modern  mammals,  in  all  fundamental  respects.  If  there  were 
no  elephants,  there  were  the  Brontotherium  and  Dinoceras  and 
Tinoceras,  and  especially  in  the  Old  World,  the  Dinotherium, 
which  seemed  like  uncouth  and  undeveloped  pachyderms  trying 
to  become  proboscidians.  But  the  Brontotherium  had  no  tusks, 
no  trunk,  no  elephantine  molars.  The  "comprehensive"  char- 
acter of  these  and  other  early  mammals  was  the  most  inter- 
esting fact ;  but  I  reserve  more  particular  mention  for  a  later 
opportunity. 


.     L/ESSON   KRONl  A   IvUMP  OK 
MESOZOIC   ROCKS   AND   FOSSILS. 

THIS  white  lump,  soft  enough  to  be  cut  with  a  knife,  effer- 
vesces very  briskly  when  any  strong  acid  is  applied  to  it. 
Even  strong  vinegar  causes  the  formation  of  a  multitude  of 
small  bubbles.  Effervescence  is  caused  by  the  escape  of  some 
gas.  Almost  always,  the  gas  is  carbonic  acid,  or  as  we  now 
say,  carbon  dioxide.  Chalk  is  a  compound  of  this  and  cal- 
cium. The  latter  is  familiar  in  the  form  of  lime.  Carbonic 
acid  is  feeble,  and  when  the  strong  acid  is  applied  to  the 
chalk,  it  drives  off  the  carbonic  acid,  and  takes  possession  of 
the  calcium  for  itself,  forming  a  different  compound.  The 
carbonic  acid  when  freed  from  combination,  resumes  its 
gaseous  form.  It  therefore  swells  up,  and  mixed  with  the 
water  of  the  strong  acid,  produces  the  bubbles  which  consti- 
tute effervescence.  Chalk,  however,  has  essentially  the  same 
constitution  as  limestone  and  marls. 


168  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

If  we  pulverize  some  of  this  chalk  and  examine  the  parti- 
cles with  a  microscope,  we  discover  that  the  greater  part  con- 
sists of  minute  shells  or  shell-fragments.  Indeed,  here  is 
Globigerina  again !  We  found  Globigerina  in  our  "Walk  Un- 
der the  Sea"  (Talk  IX.)  Billions  upon  billions  of  these 
minute  shells  accumulated  together,  have  formed  that  white 
ooze  which  overspreads  so  large  a  part  of  the  deep  sea-bottom. 
If  some  of  that  ooze  should  be  compressed  and  dried,  it  would 
be  exceedingly  like  chalk.  There  is  little  doubt  that  the  real 
chalk  so  abundant  in  Europe,  was  originally  a  white  ooze  in 
the  bottom  of  the  ocean — the  deep  parts  of  the  ocean — when 
much  of  Great  Britain  and  the  continent  was  buried  in  abyssal 
waters.  What  we  found  in  the  depths  of  the  Atlantic  must 
be  a  modern  picture  of  the  condition  of  the  ancient  ocean 
which  covered  Europe  some  millions  of  years  ago.  The  bot- 
tom of  the  Atlantic  was  then  the  bottom  of  the  Atlantic.  Its 
present  [condition  has  been  perpetuated  from  the  Cretaceous 
Age ;  and  many  of  the  minute  forms  accumulating  there  to- 
day are  generically  identical  with  the  forms  which  lived  when 
the  chalk  was  a  sea-bottom. 

A  few  years  ago,  when  these  things  were  first  ascertained, 
and  the  first  announcement  was  made  that  the  fossil  forms  of 
the  chalk  were  still  living  in  the  Atlantic  a  triumphant  outcry 
was  made  through  the  newspapers  by  the  ignorant  enemies  of 
geological  science.  It  has  since  Cuvier,  always  been  a  funda- 
mental doctrine  in  geology,  that  the  earth's  surface  has  been 
occupied  by  a  succession  of  populations  showing  progressive 
advancement  toward  the  modern  aspects  of  the  world.  But 
"here,"  they  affirmed,  "we  find  no  change  since  the  chalk. 
The  foundation  of  geology  is  disrupted.  The  so-called  science 
is  a  baseless  mass  of  '  theories ! '  There  is  no  sound  evidence 
of  the  great  age  of  the  world.  The  '  days '  of  Genesis  were 
twenty-four  hours  long.  Hurrah !  " 

The  life  of  geology  was  scarcely  conscious  of  a  ripple.  The 
old  principles  rest  firmly.  The  facts  cited,  instead  of  proving 
destructive,  confirm  another  doctrine  even  more  dreadful  than 
that  of  successive  faunas  and  great  antiquity — the  doctrine 


LESSON  FROM  A  LUMP  OF  CHALK.          169 

of  correlation  of  organic  structure  with  environment.  Faunas 
change  as  the  physical  surroundings  change ;  but  if  the  physi- 
cal surroundings  remain  changeless,  the  faunas  remain  change- 
less. Down  in  the  deep  sea,  with  a  constant  temperature  of 
freezing  water;  with  perpetual  absence  of  the  stimulus  of 
light ;  without  motion ;  without  change  of  chemical  condi- 
tions— with  almost  absolute  changelessness  for  ages,  why  should 
organisms  change  ?  They  are  now  suited  to  the  environment ; 
they  could  not  change  without  becoming  unsuited  to  the  en- 
vironment. The  forms  from  the  Age  of  Chalk  have  survived 
because  a  deeper  principle  than  that  of  succession  of  faunas 
has  been  dominant.  It  is  the  principle  of  correlation  of  en- 
vironment and  organism.  The  animal  must  be  adapted  to  its 
surroundings.  Nearly  all  the  populations  which  have  lived 
dwelt  on  land  or  in  comparatively  shallow  water,  where 
environment  was  undergoing  progressive  change ;  hence  suc- 
cession of  faunas.  A  few  deep  sea  species  have  dwelt  where 
change  of  physical  conditions  is  almost  unknown;  hence  a 
nearly  changeless  fauna.  Thus  a  piece  of  chalk  reveals  a  deep 
and  important  principle. 

The  position  of  the  chalk-beds  in  the  series  of  geological 
formations  is  nearly  at  the  top  of  the  Cretaceous  System.  The 
System,  besides  the  beds  of  chalk,  contains  strata  of  sand  and 
clay.  One  variety  of  sand  is  green,  and  in  New  Jersey,  oppo- 
site Philadelphia,  it  is  dug  extensively  for  fertilizing  soils, 
since,  as  you  will  infer,  it  is  not  a  purely  silicious  sand,  but 
contains  a  large  percentage  of  potash.  The  Cretaceous  strata 
extend  along  the  belt  parallel  to  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  coasts, 
into  Mexico ;  but  from  Maryland  to  Georgia,  the  Atlantic  belt 
is  mostly  covered  and  concealed  by  the  Tertiary  beds.  From 
middle  Georgia,  a  broad  belt  extends  into  eastern  Mississippi, 
and  thence  north  to  the  Ohio  river  near  Cairo.  West  of  this, 
the  Cretaceous  strata  are  concealed  by  Tertiary  and  Mississippi 
alluvium,  as  far  as  Little  Rock.  Near  here  an  exposed  belt 
begins  which  widens  extensively  toward  the  southwest,  through 
Texas.  Remember  that  the  place  of  the  Tertiary  strata  is 

always  between  the  Cretaceous  and  the  ocean.     The  Cretaceous 

15 


170  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

strata  go  down  under  the  Tertiary,  and  probably  under  the 
Gulf  and  a  portion  of  the  Atlantic. 

There  is  no  proper  chalk  in  the  Cretaceous  beds  of  the 
United  States.  In  the  Gulf  States,  however,  is  a  buffish  soft 
limestone,  called  the  "  Rotten  Limestone,"  slightly  resembling 
chalk.  As  it  disintegrates  and  mingles  with  vegetable  matter, 
it  forms  a  very  rich,  black  soil.  This  underlies  the  very  best 
cotton  lands  of  Georgia,  Alabama,  and  eastern  Mississippi. 
The  lower  part  of  the  System  contains  beds  of  sand  interstrati- 
fied  with  clays  and  shales.  These  convey  rain  water  down  and 
southward  from  their  belts  of  outcrop.  So  when  holes  are 
bored  from  the  surface  down  to  these  water-bearing  sands,  sup- 
plies of  water  are  obtained.  Hence  it  is,  that  at  Selma, 
Cahaba,  and  throughout  the  Cretaceous  region,  Artesian  wells 
abound. 

The  Cretaceous  rocks  of  the  Gulf  States  are  rich  in  fossil 
remains ;  often,  in  riding  along  the  highway,  one's  eye  is  ar- 
rested by  some  weathered  knoll  close  by  the  roadside,  thickly 
overstrewn  with  teeth  and  vertebrae  of  sharks  and  rays  of 
various  extinct  species — as  if  one  were  traveling  over  a  sea- 
bottom.  Here  also,  are  multitudes  of  small  and  curious  oys- 
ter shells,  and  many  other  sorts  of  shells.  Where  the  rivers 
and  creeks  have  cut  through  the  Cretaceous  strata  we  find 
excellent  sections.  One  of  the  most  famous  of  these  is  at 
Prairie  Bluff,  on  the  Black  Warrior  river,  in  Greene  county, 
Alabama.  Here  the  "rotten  limestone"  is  at  the  top;  then 
come  beds  of  sand  formed  evidently,  not  far  from  the  ancient 
shore,  which  lay  on  the  north,  just  beyond  Selma  and  a  little 
south  of  Tuscaloosa.  These  sands  contain  bits  of  wood,  and, 
in  one  instance,  I  remember  seeing  the  trunk  of  a  tree  project- 
ing several  feet  from  the  cliff  toward  the  river.  The  wood 
contained  a  good  amount  of  iron  pyrites,  but  some  of  it  could 
still  be  cut  with  a  knife.  Here  is  one  layer  of  cemented  sand 
completely  packed  with  small  oysters.  How  many  of  these  sa- 
vory bivalves  must  have  gone  to  waste  in  those  middle  geolo- 
gic ages !  But  I  suppose  they  served  as  food  for  other  ani- 
mals whose  appetites  were  as  worthy  of  regard  as  man's.  In 


LESSONS  FROM  A  LUMP  OF  CHALK.  171 

other  strata  I  have  picked  up  oyster  shells  seven  inches  in 
diameter,  and  nearly  round.  Single  valves,  I  think  weigh 
sometimes  two  or.  three  pounds.  One  might  have  broiled  oys- 
ter steaks  if  he  had  lived  in  those  days.  The  Cretaceous 
strata  seem  to  have  been  a  literal  oyster  cemetery. 

But  who,  after  all,  would  prefer  to  have  lived  in  those 
times?  Even  had  human  society  been  supplied,  the  world 
was  really  not  prepared  for  man.  We  do  not  find  any  bones 
of  horses  or  oxen,  or  any  of  our  domestic  and  useful  animals. 
Nor  do  we  find  remains  of  any  of  our  fruit-bearing  trees — or 
berries  of  any  kind.  I  think  we  should  have  lost  more  than 
all  the  gain — far  more.  Instead  of  relics  of  domestic  animals, 
we  discover  teeth  and  vertebrae  of  sharks  of  different  tribes — 
some  with  tapering,  lance-like  teeth,  some  very  long  and  slen- 
der, and  some  flat  and  lying  like  paving  stones  on  the  bottom 
of  the  mouth.  Here  too  are  the  vertebrae  of  a  long  and 
snake-like  reptile  known  as  Mosasaur.  It  was  probably  a 
genuine  "sea-serpent."  The  relics  of  these  ancient  popula- 
tions are  now  plowed  up  in  the  cotton  fields.  In  the  region 
south  of  Selma  I  have  seen  the  precious  relics  of  curious  and 
extraordinary  shells,  which  we  call  Rudwtes,  carted  together 
and  burned  for  lime  to  whitewash  log-cabins. 

From  Texas,  the  great  Cretaceous  belt  can  be  traced 
northward  to  Kansas,  Nebraska,  Minnesota,  Dakota,  and 
British  America.  It  extends,  indeed,  along  the  east  flanks  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  apparently  to  the  Arctic  Ocean. 
These  are  interesting  facts.  They  demonstrate  that  there 
was  a  time  when  an  ocean  stretched  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
through  the  middle  of  our  continent,  to  the  Arctic.  These 
Cretaceous  strata  contain  neither  chalk  nor  "  rotten  limestone." 
They  were  not  formed  in  a  deep  sea.  There  are  vast  forma- 
tions of  clay  and  shale,  and  at  the  bottom  is  a  thick  sand- 
stone, often  conglomeritic,  which  can  be  traced  from  Kansas 
to  the  Wahsatch  Mountains — but  not  in  one  continuous  sheet. 
All  these  Cretaceous  strata  being  formed  of  fragments  coarse 
or  fine,  are  called  fragmentaL  Evidently  they  were  laid  down 
in  waters  mostly  shallow,  and  to  a  great  extent,  near  the 


172  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

shore.  The  western  Cretaceous  beds  contain  many  strata  of 
coal ;  and  this  is  other  evidence  of  water  so  shallow  as  to  be^ 
come  frequently  dry  land.  The  fine  coals  of  Wyoming  and 
of  the  Cascade  Mountains  in  Washington  Territory  are 
Cretaceous. 

These  strata  are  the  burial  places  of  gigantic  reptiles — 
dwellers  in  the  sea  and  dwellers  on  the  land.  Some  of  their 
forms  were  amazingly  elongate.  Some  attained  a  length  of 
fifty  to  one  hundred  feet.  I  must  give  you  the  name  of  one 
of  these — Ca-mar"-o-sau'-rus.  The  bones  were  found  by  Cope  in 
Colorado.  He  says:  "One  of  the  vertebrae  of  the  neck  was 
twenty  inches  long  and  twelve  inches  in  transverse  diameter. 
The  shoulder-blade  was  5^  feet  long,  and  the  thigh-bone  five. 
The  total  length  of  the  reptile  must  have  been  72  feet."  Am- 
phi-cwl'-i-as  had  a  thigh  bone  six  feet  hi  length  and  a  body 
over  a  hundred  feet  long.  Marsh  has  discovered,  also,  enor- 
mous reptilian  bones  in  Kansas,  and  some  of  them  are  remark- 
ably peculiar.  I  can  not  enter  into  details  at  this  place ;  but 
by  and  by  we  will  take  a  general  view  of  the  wonderful  em- 
pire of  reptiles. 

Another  system,  the  Jurassic,  underlies  the  Cretaceous, 
and  we  find  its  shales  and  limestones  widely  distributed  in  the 
far  west.  It  was  a  closed  record  before  the  activities  of  Cre- 
taceous life  began.  It  incloses  the  memorials  of  huge  and 
numerous  Dinosaurian  reptiles,  and  it  was  in  fact  from  these 
repositories  that  Marsh  derived  the  material  to  give  interest  and 
romance  to  his  reptilian  memoirs.  Lower  still  lie  the  sand- 
stones of  the  Triassic,  and  these  are  the  solid  tombs  of  the 
hoar  forerunners  of  the  swarming  dynasty  of  reptiles.  The 
Triassic  is  represented  in  the  eastern  states  by  the  red  and 
brown  sandstones  of  North  Carolina,  northern  New  Jersey 
and  the  valley  of  the  Connecticut.  From  the  quarries  along 
the  Connecticut  are  obtained  the  materials  for  the  fine  brown- 
stone  fronts  of  New  York.  But  these  stones  are  rich  in  in- 
terest for  the  geologist  as  well  as  the  builder.  They  contain 
the  records  of  a  daily  life  which  opens  vistas  into  a  wonder- 
ful past  where  Nature  is  seen  in  one  of  her  stages  of  transi- 


LONE  BURIALS  IN  THE  COAL  LANDS.          173 

tion  from  type  to  type.  We  glimpse  the  stalking  forms  of 
bird-like  reptiles  as  we  uncover  the  tracks  which  they  made 
in  the  world's  middle  ages;  but  we  drop  the  curtain  to  raise 
it  again  in  another  scene. 


XXX.    IVONK  BURIALS  IN  THE  COAL 

COAL-MEASURE   FOSSILS. 

STILL  deeper  in  the  series  of  strata  which  compose  the  up- 
per portion  of  the  earth's  crust,  we  come  to  the  coal-beds 
which  were  described  in  Talk  XXVI.  We  wish  now  to  con- 
sider very  briefly  the  organic  forms  which  the  coal  strata  in- 
close. We  refer  here  to  coal  strata  of  "Carboniferous  Age," 
such  as  found  in  the  United  States  east  of  the  Kocky  Mount- 
ains— excepting  the  Richmond  and  Deep  River  fields  in 
Virginia  and  North  Carolina.  You  will  remember  that  we  de- 
tected evidences  of  the  vegetable  origin  of  the  coal.  We  con- 
clude that  it  was  formed  from  trees  and  herbaceous  plants 
which  had  grown  in  the  places  where  the  coal  accumulated. 
Generally,  that  ancient  vegetation  has  become  broken,  com- 
minuted and  decayed — like  the  forest  leaves  gathered  in  a 
pile  and  left  to  the  influence  of  the  weather  during  one  or  two 
seasons.  Still,  many  distinct  traces  of  the  coal-plants  lie  bed- 
ded in  the  formless  rubbish  of  the  ancient  forest.  Pressed 
upon  the  black  surfaces  of  the  shales  are  innumerable  tracer- 
ies of  fern  fronds,  with  all  the  sharpness  of  pinnations  and 
bipinnations,  their  serrations  and  acuminations,  as  neatly 
preserved  as  if  gathered  last  week  from  the  forest  and  pressed 
by  careful  hands  for  the  herbarium.  It  is  an  interesting 
sight ;  it  fills  our  minds  with  reflections.  Down  four  hundred 
feet  in  the  solid  earth,  reposing  in  darkness  and  silence  through 
all  the  ages  of  our  human  history,  have  these  elegant  pictures 
been  lying — forms  out  of  a  vanished  world — types  of  times 
which  passed  while  terrestrial  life  was  still  in  its  infancy,  and 
vegetation  had  not  yet  learned  to  blossom  in  the  hues  of  the 
violet  and  the  rose. 


174  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

Here  too,  are  imbedded  stems  covered  all  over  with  seal- 
like  impressions  arranged  in  diagonally  winding  series.  Such 
a  tree  was  Lep-i-do-deri-dron,  or  "scaly  tree,"  which  grew  to  a 
height  of  a  hundred  feet,  with  a  stem  twelve  feet  in  circum- 
ference. Some  of  the  smaller  samples  of  these  stems 
or  branches  bear  a  remote  resemblance  to  the  exterior  of  a 
snake ;  and  I  have  had  specimens  brought  as  petrified  snakes ! 
Did  you  ever  observe  that  the  more  ignorant  people  are,  the 
more  confident  they  are  of  the  correctness  of  their  interpreta- 
tions of  nature?  Some  men  entertain  no  thought  whatever  that 
these  fossil  sticks  are  any  thing  different  from  what  their  fancy 
suggests.  They  do  not  observe  that  the  specimen  is  broken  at 
both  ends ;  that  there  is  no  taper  toward  each  extremity,  as 
in  a  snake,  and  that  the  forms  mistaken  for  scales  are  not 
closely  in  contact  as  in  snakes,  and  are  indented  by  a  distinct 
figure,  rather  than  elevated  and  flat,  with  a  delicate  raised 
line  along  the  middle,  as  in  most  snake  "scutes,"  as  we  call 
them. 

We  find  also  another  kind  of  stems,  with  similar  seal-like 
impressions,  but  arranged  in  lines  lengthwise  of  the  stem 
and  more  remote  from  each  other.  This  kind  of  tree  is  Sig- 
il-la'-ri-a  or  "seal-tree."  Quite  often  we  find  the  stump  and 
roots  of  these  trees  deeper  down  in  the  sandy  clay  in  which 
the  tree  originally  grew.  These  are  marked  by  scattered, 
deep  impressions,  as  if  made  by  a  sharp  stick.  Before  these 
were  known  to  be  the  roots  of  Sigillaria,  they  were  named 
Stig-ma'-ri-a  or  "mark-tree." 

These  trees  were  not  like  any  species  now  living.  They 
produced  no  flowers  or  fruits  which  could  be  compared  with 
those  of  modern  vegetation.  Yet  we  must  admit  that  they 
possessed  resemblances  to  several,  different  kinds  of  modern 
vegetation.  When  we  get  a  fossil  organism  of  this  kind,  we 
say  it  is  "comprehensive."  Thus,  Lepidodendron  had  some 
structures  which  affiliated  it  with  our  modern  "ground  pine" 
(Lycopodium) .  In  another  particular  it  was  like  the  Cycads 
of  tropical  regions.  In  some  characters  of  the  wood  it  was  a 
fir  or  pine,  while  in  others  it  was  a  fern.  The  "scars"  re- 


LONE  BURIALS  IN  THE  COAL  LANDS.          175 

ferred  to  were  left  by  the  fallen  fronds  or  leaves,  and  in  these 
it  also  resembled  ferns.  We  base  these  inferences  on  the 
study  of  specimens  imbedded  in  the  strata  associated  with  the 
coal.  All  comprehensive  types  are  primitive  and  low  in  rank. 
The  low  rank  of  these  plants  is  evinced  also  by  the  absence 
of  flowers  and  fruit. 

But  we  find  here,  also,  the  relics  of  once  animated  forms. 
As  the  coal  was  produced  on  the  land;  as  the  vegetation 
grew  on  the  land,  the  animal  remains  would  be  those  of  the 
land.  They  would  be  air-breathers.  So  here  they  are — Snails — 
air-breathing  mollusks.  Every  one  has  noticed  the  snail 
crawling  about  with  his  house  on  his  back.  He  lives  in  damp 
retired  places,  and  feeds  on  the  leaves  of  herbs.  The  situation 
must  have  been  sufficiently  retired  ten  million  years  ago  in  a 
a  forest  where  the  woodman's  axe  never  resounded,  and  foot- 
step neither  of  man  nor  beast  was  ever  heard.  But  distant 
as  was  the  age,  snail  natures  were  very  similar  to  snail 
natures  in  the  nineteenth  century.  Even  then,  they  congre- 
gated on  the  peaty  soil  in  the  damp  situations  about  old 
stumps.  They  held  there  their  social  meetings,  and  some- 
times they  found  a  more  secure  and  congenial  retreat  in  the 
interior  of  a  stump  hollowed  by  age  and  decay.  In  such 
situations  they  have  been  found  especially  in  the  enormously 
developed  coal  measures  of  Nova  Scotia.  We  find  two  types 
of  land-snails  in  the  Coal  Measures ;  one  is  like  our  modern 
genus  Helix,  and  the  other  resembles  Pupa. 

I  just  now  intimated  that  these  humble  air-breathers  were 
not  disturbed  in  their  retreats  by  man  or  beast.  •  This  is 
simply  a  conclusion  from  the  fossil  remains.  These  are  the 
most  important  records  of  the  past.  Since  no  bones  of  human 
beings  nor  of  any  mammals  have  ever  been  found  fossilized 
in  the  Coal  Measures,  we  feel  justified  in  concluding  that  man 
and  mammals  were  not  in  existence  while  the  coal  beds  accu- 
mulated. We  have  got  down  to  a  geological  horizon  or  level 
which  answers  to  a  time  when  the  higher  organisms  had  not 
appeared.  So  we  see  that  they  have  not  enjoyed  an  eternal 
existence  on  the  earth.  But  we  do  find  bones  of  vertebrates — 


176  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

back-bones,  skulls,  limbs,  and  teeth.  It  is  doubtful  whether 
they  belonged  to  vertebrates  as  high  even  as  reptiles.  You 
remember  that  the  beds  of  ancient  reptiles  were  passed  at 
higher  levels.  The  bones  here  seem  to  be  those  of  Amphib- 
ians and  Fishes.  Amphibians,  perhaps  you  understand,  are 
reptile-shaped  animals  which  breathe  water  when  young  and 
air  when  adult.  Frogs  and  toads  are  living  Amphibians  with- 
out tail.  Salamanders,  tritons,  axolotls,  and  fish-lizards  are 
Amphibians  with  tails.  But  fish-lizards  retain  their  gills 
throughout  life.  The  gills  are  beautifully  fringed,  scarlet,  ex- 
ternal appendages,  projecting  from  the  neck  on  each  side. 
We  call  them  amphibians  because  in  their  structure  they  so 
much  resemble  salamanders.  Moreover,  the  axolotl,  while  in 
the  elevated  regions  of  Colorado  it  retains  its  gills  permanently, 
in  less  elevated  regions,  absorbs  them  and  becomes  a  sala- 
mander. So  it  happens  that  the  permanence  or  absorption  of 
the  gills  is  not  a  circumstance  of  very  great  importance. 

This  thought  leads  me  to  add  that  in  the  plan  of  all  ver- 
tebrates, provision  is  made  for  the  development  of  both  gills 
and  lungs ;  but  generally  only  one  sort  of  respiratory  organ 
is  actually  developed  ;  and  that  depends  on  the  life  the  animal 
is  to  lead.  Man  himself  has  provision  for  gills  in  the  early 
embryonic  stages  of  his  being.  The  eggs  of  Amphibians  are 
deposited  and  hatched  in  water,  and  the  young  must,  there- 
fore, be  fitted  with  gills.  All  vertebrates  below  Amphibians 
have  gills  for  a  permanency ;  all  above,  have  lungs  for  a  per- 
manency. The  Amphibian  is  on  the  dividing  line.  In  the 
lowest  phase  of  its  existence,  it  goes  with  fishes ;  in  the  highest 
phase,  it  goes  with  reptiles.  Its  life  is  double.  But,  on  the 
one  hand,  the  separating  line  leaves  the  fish-lizard  wholly  on 
the  aquatic  side ;  and  so,  on  the  other  it  leaves  the  toad,  in 
some  cases,  wholly  on  the  land  side ;  since  toads  sometimes 
rear  their  young  without  finding  their  way  to  the  water. 

These  amphibious  border-land  creatures  possess  very  great 
interest ;  and  so  this  type  of  creatures  fossilized  in  the  Coal 
Measures,  throws  much  light  on  the  problem  of  life  and 
organization.  They  are  border-land  creatures  here  in  an  addi- 


LONE  BURIALS  IN  THE  COAL  LANDS.          177 

tional  sense.  Contiguous  to  them  in  earlier  time,  lived  only 
water-breathing  fishes;  next  following  them  in  time,  were  the 
air  breathing  reptiles.  Here  you  notice  a  certain  succession 
in  geological  history  which  is  reproduced  in  the  life-time  of 
the  individual  amphibian.  Why  this  parallelism?  What 
causes  it  ?  I  shall  try  to  answer  these  questions  in  due  time. 
For  the  present  we  only  stick  a  pin. 

Let  us  look  a  little  more  closely  at  some  of  these  Coal 
Measure  Amphibians.  At  Lin  ton,  Ohio,  and  Morris,  Illinois, 
and  at  the  Joggins  in  Nova  Scotia,  we  find  their  blackened 
bones  in  greatest  abundance.  There  is  one  type  in  which  the 
animal  was  but  a  few  inches  long  and  had  the  shape  and 
aspect  of  a  salamander — that  is,  with  a  long  tail  and  four 
limbs.  Another  type  was  similar,  but  was  covered  with  scales 
or  small  bony  plates.  Still  another  had  no  limbs,  or  at  most 
only  two,  and  the  form  was  long  and  snake-like.  All  this  is 
ascertained  from  the  ruins  of  skeletons  found  in  the  Coal 
Measure  shales. 

The  most  characteristic  and  striking  of  all  Coal  Measure 
types  of  animals  was  the  Lab-y-rinih'-o-dont.  In  size,  some  were 
as  large  as  an  ox,  and  larger.  The  head  of  one  species  was 
three  feet  long  and  nearly  two  feet  broad.  The  teeth  of  Laby- 
rinthodonts,  like  those  of  all  Amphibians,  were  conical,  but 
on  making  a  cross  section,  the  cement  and  dentine — the  two 
substances  of  which  the  tooth  is  composed,  are  found  intri- 
cately infolded  in  a  labyrinthine  fashion,  and  hence  the  name 
of  this  type.  In  some  of  the  Labyrinthodonts,  the  figure  was 
somewhat  frog-like,  with  hind  limbs  much  the  largest.  Whether 
they  practiced  leaping  we  do  not  know.  That  they  sometimes 
walked  as  quadrupeds  is  certain,  for  in  some  instances,  their 
footprints  have  been  preserved  on  the  surface  of  sandstones. 
They  were  found,  for  instance,  near  Greensburg,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  also  in  other  American  localities.  The  print  of 
the  hind  foot  is  four-toed,  with  a  thumb  standing  out  at  right 
angles ;  and  the  appearance  is  so  much  like  that  of  the  human 
hand,  that  when  the  animal  was  only  known  from  its  foot- 
prints, it  was  named  Cheir-o-the '-ri-um  or  "  hand- beast."  In 


178  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

some  Labyrinthodonts  the  head  and  some  other  parts  of  the 
body  were  covered  with  sculptured  bony  plates. 

Numerous  remains  of  smaller  Amphibians  are  found  in 
Nova  Scotia,  in  company  with  numerous  snail  shells,  in  the 
stump  of  an  old  SigiUaria.  In  the  same  situation  were  found, 
also,  galley-worms,  scorpions,  and  spiders.  These,  undoubt- 
edly, all  served  as  food  for  the  Amphibians.  Nearly  all  the 
forms  of  insect  life  are  represented  among  the  relics  of  the 
coal  epoch — myriapods  of  various  groups,  scorpions  and  spiders, 
cockroaches,  dragon-flies  and  other  netted  winged  insects,  and 
also  a  few  beetles.  But  we  find  no  remains  of  the  highest 
insects — flies,  butterflies,  ants,  wasps,  and  bees.  Many  insect 
forms  discovered  are  aquatic,  and  undoubtedly  served  as  food 
for  fishes  and  Amphibians. 

If  we  examine  the  limestones  associated  with  other  strata 
in  the  Coal  Measures,  especially  from  Ohio  westward,  we  find 
them  stocked  with  a  rich  and  varied  fauna  of  marine  remains. 
Besides  numerous  tribes  and  genera  of  sharks  and  ganoid 
fishes,  these  limestones  abound  in  corals,  crinoids  and  various 
families  of  univalve  and  bivalve  molluscs.  Oysters,  however, 
are  almost  or  totally  wanting ;  and  no  fish  remains  resembling 
the  modern  perch  and  whitefish  occur.  There  is  a  strikingly 
antique  aspect  to  these  relics.  The  affinities  are  with  the  old 
forms  which  we  shall  next  discover,  and  not  with  the  forms 
of  the  modern  world.  We  have  here  penetrated  to  the  records 
of  the  Palaeozoic  JEon. 


XXXI.     TERRIBLE    KlSHES  AND  THEIR  COM- 
PANIONS. 

REMAINS  OF  THE  DEVONIAN   AGE. 

WE  now  descend  another  stage  in  our  examination  of  the 
strata  and  their  contents.  We  come  down  to  the  Devonian 
System.  Do  not  think  these  rocks  are  everywhere  covered  by 
all  the  later  ones.  In  many  regions  they  come  to  the  surface 
because  none  of  the  later  ones  are  there  present.  But  where 


TERRIBLE  FISHES  AND  THEIR  COMPANIONS.    179 

the  Devonian  strata  disappear  they  go  under  the  Carbonifer- 
ous strata ;  and  these  go  under  all  the  newer  strata  which 
may  be  present.  Remember,  however,  as  before  said,  that  a 
whole  formation  may  be  found  missing  in  particular  places. 
Strata  were  deposited  only  where  sea-bottom  existed.  If  the 
spot  was  uplifted  so  as  to  be  dry  land  during  a  particular 
age,  the  formation  belonging  to  that  place  can  not  exist. 
But  if  the  spot  became  sea-bottom  in  the  next  age,  the  for- 
mation belonging  there  was  deposited,  and  it  does  not  now 
lie  on  the  formation  of  next  preceding  age,  but  on  the  one 
before  that. 

So  do  not  imagine  ourselves  penetrating  deeper  and  deeper 
into  the  earth.  We  examine  the  systems  of  strata  in  the  re- 
gions where  they  come  to  the  surface.  We  may  presume 
they  continue  under  the  newer  formations  to  great  depths ;  but 
I  have  the  opinion  that  if  we  could  follow  them,  they  would  be 
found  gradually  growing  thinner. 

Let  us  begin  by  learning  where  the  Devonian  strata  occupy 
the  surface.  Nowhere  in  New  England  are  they  distinctly 
revealed.  Nor  in  any  of  the  Gulf  States.  A  belt  of  Devon- 
ian strata  stretches  east  and  west  through  central  and  south- 
ern New  York,  from  the  Helderberg  Mountains  to  Lake  Erie. 
Thence  it  passes  under  Lake  Erie  and  along  both  shores  to 
the  extremity  of  the  lake,  and  into  south-eastern  Michigan. 
Here  the  outcrop  divides;  one  branch  passes  south,  through 
the  west  center  of  Ohio  to  the  Ohio  River,  and  the  other., 
turning  north,  goes  under  Lake  Huron  and  along  its  western 
border  to  the  Straits  of  Mackinac.  This  branch  here  bends 
westward  and  south-westward,  so  as  to  underlie  the  central 
and  eastern  part  of  Lake  Michigan,  and  border  that  lake  on 
the  east.  This  branch  goes  down  through  Indiana  to  the  Ohio 
River,  at  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio,  lying  along  the  eastern  border 
of  the  great  Coal  Field  of  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Kentucky.  A 
belt  also  extends  from  Rock  Island,  Illinois,  north-westward 
by  Iowa  City,  through  the  state  of  Iowa.  This  system  is  found 
also  in  Missouri,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  other  states. 

There  is  a  very  useful  key  to  the  distribution  of  the  rocks 


180  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

of  any  system.  There  is  always  a  great  limestone  formation 
from  the  middle  to  the  upper  part  of  the  system — not  always 
extending  to  the  top  of  it — and  this  is  generally  quite  con- 
spicuous, in  consequence  of  its  solidity  and  prominence  and 
great  usefulness.  The  great  central  limestone  mass  of  a  system 
may  be  traced  through  all  the  windings  of  its  outcrop,  by  a 
line  of  quarries  and  cliffs  and  rocky  ridges.  If  you  can  say 
where  this  conspicuous  central  limestone  belt  is  located,  you 
can  at  once  understand  that  the  older  strata  of  the  system 
must  lie  on  the  side  from  which  the  limestone  dips,  and  the 
newer  strata  must  lie  on  the  side  toward  which  the  limestone 
dips.  Now,  the  great  limestone  mass  of  the  Devonian  is  the 
Corniferous  Limestone.  Throughout  the  west,  the  overlying 
Hamilton  formation  is  also  a  limestone,  though  mostly  shaly 
at  the  east.  The  limestone  mass,  therefore,  from  Ohio  west- 
ward, is  Corniferous-Hamilton.  Some  of  the  points  where 
the  Devonian  limestone  mass  rises  conspicuously  are  the  fol- 
lowing :  Syracuse,  Leroy,  Caledonia,  Buffalo,  Ingersoll,  Lon- 
don, Sandusky,  Kelly's  Island,  Columbus,  Monroe,  Alpena, 
Mackinac,  Petoskey,  Rock  Island,  Iowa  City,  Louisville.  At 
all  these  points  we  find  a  limestone  of  nearly  the  same  age, 
containing  generally  an  abundance  of  marine  fossils.  The 
corals  are  very  conspicuous,  and  at  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio,  and 
the  head  of  Little  Traverse  Bay,  appear  to  have  been  gathered 
together  in  literal  reefs.  The  former  locality  and  its  vicinity 
4ias  been  a  favorite  collecting  ground  for  many  years,  and 
geologists  are  still,  almost  weekly  discovering  new  species. 
The  latter  locality  is  close  by  the  new  and  favorite  summer 
resorts  known  as  Bay  View  or  Petoskey  and  Charlevoix. 

At  Petoskey  and  vicinity  occur  those  exquisite  coral  masses 
which  are  so  extensively  polished  and  sold  to  summer  tourists. 
The  masses  range  from  the  size  of  a  hickory  nut  to  that  of  a 
man's  head ;  but  the  most  common  are  of  the  size  of  the  fist. 
They  are  shaped  somewhat  like  cakes  made  in  "patty  pans." 
The  upper  surface  is  covered  with  six-sided  cells  about  a 
quarter  of  an  inch  in  diameter.  A  delicately  crenulated  wall 
runs  around  each  cell.  In  the  middle  of  the  cell  appears  to 


TERRIBLE  FISHES  AND  THEIR  COMPANIONS.    181 

be  a  small  cylindrical  wall  running  down  along  the  length  of 
the  coral  tube.  Within  this  sinks  a  pit  abruptly  an  eighth  of 
an  inch.  Really,  however,  there  is  no  true  inner  wall.  From 
this  apparent  wall  regular  radial  lines  run  to  the  outer  wall. 
These  are  the  upper  edges  of  vertical  radiating  plates  called 
septa,  which  extend  the  whole  length  of  the  coral  tube.  These 
forms  are  beautiful  enough  without  polishing.  Still,  certain 
internal  structures  are  by  polishing,  brought  out  with  admir- 
able clearness  and  beauty.  For  instance,  if  the  cake  is  split 
vertically  and  one  surface  polished,  you  see  that  the  space  be- 
tween each  two  septa  is  divided  from  end  to  end  by  delicate 
horizontal  dissepiments,  giving  the  whole  polished  surface  the 
appearance  of  a  piece  of  very  fine  woven  cloth.  The  dealers 
in  these  specimens  give  them  various  names,  some  of  which 
are  quite  absurd.  The  scientific  name  of  this  species  is  A-cer- 
vu-la'-ri-a  Da-vid-so'-ni.  The  first  word  signifies  a  little  hillock 
or  cake;  the  second,  means  Davidson's;  and  we  might  call  it 
"Davidson's  coral-cake."  This  Davidson  was  a  very  distin- 
guished English  writer  on  fossil  Brachiopods.  It  would  not 
be  a  great  hardship  for  visitors  to  Petoskey  to  learn  to  call 
this  coral  by  its  correct  name. 

This  species  is  found  in  America  nowhere  except  in  the 
Hamilton  Group,  which  you  will  remember,  runs  into  the 
Corniferous  Limestone.  It  is  found  nowhere  in  the  world  in 
such  beauty  and  abundance  as  on  the  south  shore  of  Little 
Traverse  Bay.  The  perfect  specimens  occur  imbedded  in  soft 
blue  clay  forming  beds  ten  or  twelve  inches  thick  between 
sheets  of  solid  limestone.  One  can  extract  them  with  the 
naked  hand.  By  Drift  action  these  coral  cakes  have  been 
transported  like  bowlders,  from  the  northern  part  of  the  state 
all  over  the  southern  part.  The  same  coral  is  found  also  near 
Iowa  City  and  sparingly  at  other  localities. 

There  is  another  fine  coral  found  on  the  shore  of  Little 
Traverse  Bay,  which  has  been  named  Fav-o-si'-tes  Al-pe-nen'-sis, 
which  means  the  "  Alpena  Favosite."  Alpena  is  at  the  head 
of  Thunder  Bay  on  the  east  shore  of  the  state,  and  this  coral 
occurs  very  abundantly,  also,  in  that  region.  It  is  shaped 


182  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

like  a  potato,  roundish  or  oblong,  and  is  covered  all  over  with 
small  cell-mouths  which  are  nearly  circular  in  outline,  but  often 
angular,  from  mutual  crowding.  When  one  of  these  coral 
potatoes  is  split  open-,  and  one  surface  polished,  the  tubes 
which  run  down  from  the  surface  can  be  beautifully  seen — as 
also  the  transverse  divisions  or  tabukz,  and  the  perforations  or 
pores  along  the  outer  walls  of  the  tubes. 

It  is  quite  wonderful  to  see  the  number  of  parasitic  crea- 
tures which  attached  themselves  to  these  and  other  corals.  The 
surface  of  Acervularia  was  sometimes  a  whole  world.  Here  is 
a  little  bivalve  shell  spreading  its  fibrous  rootlets  out  to  make 
itself  secure  (Crania).  Here  are  numerous  little  coiled  shells 
(Ser'pula)  of  the  class  of  Worms.  Here  is  a  little  coral  con- 
sisting of  a  branching  chain  of  cornet-shaped  tubelets  attached 
with  the  small  end  of  each  to  the  under  side  of  its  predecessor, 
near  the  upturned  aperture  (Au-lop'-o-rd).  There  are  half  a 
dozen  species  of  these.  One  aggregated  itself  in  dense,  thick 
masses.  One  was  beautifully  small  and  delicate.  One  was 
extremely  fine,  almost  like  a  spider's  web  trailing  over  the  sur- 
face— really  a  distinct  genus.  Then  we  find  patches  an  inch 
in  diameter  and  less,  which  look  like  films  of  varnish  pricked 
full  of  pin-holes  at  equal  distances.  There  are  coaser  and  finer 
sorts  (Fis-tu-lip'-o-ra  and  Gal-lop' -o-r a).  Another  incrusting 
coral  is  like  excessively  fine  lace  (Mon-tic-u-lip'-o-ra).  There 
are  many  other  attached  organisms  of  less  frequent  occurrence. 
I  hope  readers  who  visit  Petoskey  will  take  pains  to  look  up 
these  interesting  forms  and  learn  their  names.  Petoskey  is  not 
by  any  means  the  only  region  where  most  of  them  occur.  At 
Thunder  Bay,  on  Partridge  Point,  is  an  amazing  quantity  of 
delicate  coral  structures  composed  mostly  of  little  bars,  slightly 
divergent,  lying  in  one  plane,  and  having  cross-connections, 
forming  a  structure  in  some  cases  like  woven  cloth,  with  open 
meshes.  One  finds  an  amazing  number  of  variations  in  de- 
tails. I  have  picked  out  from  this  locality  alone  one  hundred 
different  species  of  these  (Fe-nes-tel'-li-dce)  and  related  forms 
(all  Bry-o-zo'-ans).  Then,  at  Widder  in  Ontario,  we  find  a 
regular  bank  of  bivalve  shells  of  a  certain  species  (Spi-rif-e-ra 


TERRIBLE  FISHES  AND  THEIR  COMPANIONS.    183 

mu-cro-na'-ta)  called  "petrified  butterflies"  by  the  boys  of  the 
vicinity.  The  deposit  has  been  cut  through  by  the  Great 
Western  Kailway.  The  Hamilton  strata  are  almost  every- 
where well  stocked  with  the  treasures  of  the  ancient  sea ;  and 
I  have  observed  that  the  small  and  parasitic  species  are  more 
abundant  than  in  other  formations.  The  greater  part  of  the 
good  fossils  found  in  the  Drift  of  the  north-western  states  are 
derived  from  this  group. 

But  after  all,  the  most  astonishing  relics  of  the  Devonian 
Age  are  the  fish-plates  and  fish-teeth  found  in  the  upper  part 
of  the  System.  Some  years  ago,  a  German-American  clergy- 
man came  to  me  with  fine  specimens  of  fossils  from  Ohio, 
among  which  were  teeth  and  jaws  of  fishes,  which  he  had 
laboriously  worked  out  of  concretions  found  in  the  vicinity  of 
Delaware,  Ohio.  The  concretions  were  imbedded  in  shales 
immediately  above  the  Hamilton  formation.  This  was  Rev. 
Hermann  Hertzer ;  and  he  urged  with  much  persistence  that 
I  undertake  the  description  of  the  fossils.  Knowing,  however, 
that  Dr.  J.  S.  Newberry  was  at  work  on  fossil  fishes,  I  finally 
induced  him  to  turn  his  fish-remains  over  to  Dr.  Newberry ; 
and  they  now  constitute  a  part  of  the  palseontological  collec- 
tion of  Columbia  College.  Dr.  dewberry's  description  of  these 
and  other  Ohio  fishes  may  be  found  in  the  first  volume  of  the 
Report  on  the  Palaeontology  of  Ohio.  The  two  principal  genera 
have  been  named  Din-icti-thys  (terrible  fish)  and  As-pid-ich'-thys 
(shield-fish). 

The  cranium  of  Dinichthys  was  composed  of  thick  bony 
plates,  strengthened  with  massive  internal  arches,  and  was  at 
least  two  feet  in  length  and  the  same  in  breadth.  The  jaws 
have  on  their  margins,  near  the  middle,  a  number  of  conical 
teeth  soldered  to  the  bone — not  inserted  in  sockets — and  at  the 
front  of  each  jaw,  two  strong,  curved,  triangular  teeth,  inter- 
locking together.  These  teeth  are  shaped  from  the  solid  bony 
tips  of  the  jaws.  The  body  was  protected  by  bony  plates  which 
on  the  back  were  large  and  thick.  The  body  must  have  been 
about  three  feet  in  diameter,  and  its  length  from  fifteen  to 
twenty  feet.  Other  fish  remains  of  the  same  age,  named 


184  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

Aspidichthys  belonged  also  to  a  bony  plated  fish  as  large  as 
Dinichthys;  but  its  plates,  as  far  as  known,  are  covered  with 
large,  hemispherical,  smooth,  enameled  tubercles. 

In  the  Corniferous  Limestone  we  find  also  quite  numerous 
bones  and  teeth  of  fishes.  They  all  belong,  however,  to  those 
orders  which  include  the  modern  Sharks  and  Gar-Pikes  or 
Ganoids.  No  trace  of  soft-scaled  fishes  is  certainly  known 
below  the  Mesozoic.  Some  of  these  sharks  had  enormous 
bayonet-like  spines  inserted  in  front  of  certain  of  their  fins ; 
and  the  Ganoids  were  armed  with  strong,  conical  teeth,  and 
protected  by  bony  enameled  scales. 

Every  one  has  read  or  heard  of  the  "  Old  Red  Sandstone." 
In  some  parts  of  this  Scottish  formation  were  found  fish  re- 
mains which  Miller  described  years  ago,  in  a  popular  and  fas- 
cinating style  which  attracted  much  attention.  This  was  one 
of  the  earliest  attempts  to  interest  the  public  in  fossil  remains — 
and  we  might  even  add,  in  any  branch  of  geology.  Hugh 
Miller  was  a  mere  quarryman,  and  Agassiz  was  so  surprised  to 
find  such  a  man  doing  good  work  in  science,  that  his  praise 
contributed  much  to  Miller's  fame.  The  renowned  fishes  of 
Scotland  were  mostly  Placoderms,  like  Dinichthys.  One  of 
them  has  been  called  Ceph-al-as'-pis  (shield-head),  for  it  had  a 
broad  flattened  head  shaped  like  a  saddler's  knife  in  outline, 
with  a  tapering  conical  body.  Another  is  Pter-ich'-thys 
(winged  fish)  since  its  only  fins  stood  out  at  right  angles  like 
wings.  But  no  European  fishes  possess  any  greater  interest 
than  our  own. 


XXXII.    ANCESTRY  OK  THE  PEARLY  NAU- 
TILUS. 

SILURIAN   REMAINS. 

THE  Pearly  Nautilus  still  lives  in  the  deep  waters  of  trop- 
ical seas.  This  is  not  the  Paper  Nautilus  or  Fairy  Sailor,  of 
which  Byron  wrote: 

"  The  tender  Nautilus  who  steers  his  prow 
The  sea-born  sailor  of  his  shell  canoe. 


ANCESTRY  OP  THE  PEARLY  NAUTILUS.        185 

The  ocean  Mab,  the  fairy  of  the  sea 

Seems  far  less  fragile,  and  alas !  more  free. 

He  when  the  lightning-winged  tornadoes  sweep 

The  surge,  is  safe — his  port  is  in  the  deep 

And  triumphs  o'er  armadas  of  mankind 

Which  shake  the  world,  yet  crumble  in  the  wind." 

It  was  the  Paper  Nautilus — the  Argmauta  Argo — which 
from  the  time  of  Aristotle  was  believed  to  come  to  the  surface 
and  "  spread  to  the  wafting  breeze  a  two-fold  sail."  Even 
this  pretty  fancy  has  been  dispelled  by  truth-loving  science. 
The  Paper  Nautilus,  when  it  wishes  to  travel,  simply  folds  its 
arms  together,  and  from  its  funnel  squirts  a  stream  of  water, 
like  the  most  common  squid,  and  makes  "  head  way"  back 
foremost.  Our  Pearly  Nautilus  is  a  relative  of  this;  but  he 
too,  is  no  sailor.  He  can  indeed  float  with  all  his  tentacles 
outspread,  but  his  normal  place  is  on  the  bottom  of  the  sea, 
and  his  normal  gait  is  a  sprawling  crawl  on  a  set  of  flexible, 
slippery  tentacles,  with  mouth  to  the  ground  and  back  up. 

This  Nautilus  is  the  representative  of  a  venerable  dynasty. 
The  type  is  a  survival  from  remote  Palseozoic  times.  It  per- 
petuates a  plan  of  structure  so  ancient  that  the  bricks  of  As- 
syria and  the  urns  of  buried  Ilios  are  but  memorials  of  yes- 
terday. Its  predecessors — nay,  perhaps  truly,  its  ancestors — 
may  be  found  lying  in  the  tombs  which  every  age  of  the 
history  of  life  and  death  has  stocked  with  its  memorials.  The 
Chambered  Shell  lies  imbedded  with  its  contemporaries  in 
strata  of  Carboniferous,  Devonian,  Silurian,  and  Cambrian 
age.  We  have  turned  over  their  remains  in  searching  for  the 
relics  of  those  ages;  but  we  have  reserved  to  this  time  the 
mention  of  this  diversified  type.  But  let  us  first  glance  at  the 
rocks  which  we  are  to  explore. 

We  shall  call  them  Silurian.  Very  commonly  they  are 
known  as  Upper  Silurian.  They  lie  many  thousand  feet  down 
from  the  surface,  in  regions  where  the  series  of  strata  is  com- 
plete. But,  in  other  regions,  they  rise  up  to  sunlight  and 
atmosphere,  with  all  their  treasures  of  the  ancient  world  em- 
bosomed in  their  solid  mass.  Here,  also,  is  a  great  limestone 

16 


186  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

formation — the  Niagara  Limestone.  We  find  it  at  the  Niag- 
ara river,  which  gives  its  name.  It  is  seen  along  the  gorge 
from  Lewiston  to  the  Falls.  It  is  the  top  rock  of  this  gorge, 
and  over  its  brink  at  the  Falls,  the  vast  body  of  water  is  pre- 
cipitated. The  reaction  of  the  water  against  the  underlying 
shale  wears  it  away.  The  limestone  is  undermined,  and  huge 
pieces  break  off  from  time  to  time.  So  the  Falls  recede ;  so 
the  gorge  is  continued  backward ;  so  the  seven-mile  gorge  was 
formed;  and  we  have  recently  ascertained  that  during  thirty- 
three  years  the  recession  has  been  three  feet  a  year. 

From  the  Falls  eastward,  this  limestone  continues  its  out- 
crop to  Rochester  and  beyond.  Westward  and  northwestward 
it  trends  toward  Cape  Hurd,  a  promonotory  separating  Geor- 
gian Bay  from  Lake  Huron.  Continuing  under  the  north- 
ern part  of  Lake  Huron,  it  forms  the  southern  portions  of 
the  Manitoulin  Islands ;  it  borders  the  northern  shore  of  Lake 
Michigan;  separates  Bay  de  Noc  and  Green  Bay  from  Lake 
Michigan,  and  borders  the  western  side  of  the  lake  to  Chicago, 
extending  beyond  and  into  north-western  Indiana.  From 
north-western  Illinois,  a  belt  stretches  north-westward  diagon- 
ally across  Iowa.  At  Sandusky,  Ohio,  an  area  expands  like 
a  great  spatula  over  parts  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Kentucky, 
stretching  to  the  southern  part  of  Kentucky.  But  through 
the  broadest  part  of  this  spatula  is  a  great  oval  perforation, 
within  which  are  embraced  Cincinnati,  Richmond  (Ind.), 
Madison,  Frankfort,  and  Lexington  (Ky).  On  the  great 
Silurian  mass  of  limestone  are  situated  Rochester,  Niagara 
Falls,  Milwaukee,  Chicago,  Joliet,  Huntington  (Ind.),  San- 
dusky.  Next  below  the  Niagara  Limestone  lies  the  Niagara 
Shale,  and  then  the  Clinton  formation ;  but  both  of  these  be- 
come limestones  at  the  west,  and  unite  with  the  Niagara  lime- 
stone to  augment  the  central  mass.  Next  above  the  Niagara 
limestone  comes  the  Salina  formation,  of  shales,  clays,  and 
marly  limestones — a  formation  which,  as  we  stated  in  Talk 
XXIII,  yields  the  country  a  vast  amount  of  salt  and  gypsum. 
At  the  bottom  of  the  Silurian  are  found  two  fragmental  for- 
mations, the  Oneida  Conglomerate  and  the  Medina  Sandstone 


ANCESTRY  OF  THE  PEARLY  NAUTILUS.        187 

above  it — proclaiming  intelligibly  that  the  waters  were  dis- 
turbed when  the  Conglomerate  was  deposited,  more  quiet 
when  the  materials  of  the  sandstone  were  laid  down,  and  still 
quieter  when  the  fine  sediments  settled  down  which  formed 
the  Clinton  marls  and  the  Niagara  shale.  Please  bear,  in  mind 
this  law  of  the  succession  of  different  kinds  of  sediments. 

Now  let  us  examine  the  contents  of  these  Silurian  strata. 
The  geologist  has  been  around  with  his  hammer,  and  looked 
them  through  and  through.  True,  he  has  not  broken  to 
pieces  one-millionth  of  the  Silurian  rocks  of  the  country ;  but 
he  has  broken  an  immense  number  of  samples  from  many 
localities  and  many  horizons ;  and  we  justly  believe  that  the 
system  has  been  fairly  probed.  In  the  lowest  beds — the 
Oneida  Conglomerate — nothing  of  much  importance  has  been 
found.  This  does  not  surprise  us,  for  shells  and  corals  must 
have  been  ground  to  powder,  had  they  been  mingled  with  the 
rolling  stones  of  which  that  formation  is  composed.  The 
Medina  sandstone  was  fine  enough. to  allow  the  accumulation 
of  some  organic  remains.  We  find  small  heaps  of  petrified 
sea- weeds.  One  sort  is  regularly  jointed,  and  presents  a  some- 
what elegant  appearance  (Ar-throph'-y-cus).  We  are  much 
interested  to  be  able  to  discover  which  way  the  currents  set 
over  the  soft  sand.  In  New  York  it  is  common  to  find  a 
sandstone  surface  with  a  little  shell  lying,  convex  side  up, 
and  beyond  it  a  train  or  drift  of  sand  a  few  inches  long,  and 
diminishing  to  a  point.  How  similar  were  the  conditions 
of  the  sandy  beach  then  and  now!  How  surprising  that  a 
little  ridge  of  soft  sand  formed  millions  of  years  ago,  should 
have  been  so  carefully  preserved  through  all  the  storms  and 
revolutions  of  the  world  to  our  day ! 

It  is  in  the  limestones,  and  especially  the  Niagara  Lime- 
stone, that  we  find  the  relics  of  the  ancestors  of  the  Pearly 
Nautilus.  It  may  seem  strange  that  most  of  them  are  straight 
rather  than  coiled.  But  their  structures  are  the  same,  and 
the  coiling  is  a  circumstance.  These  straight  nautiloid  shells 
we  call  Or-tho-cer'-a-tites  (the  technical  name  of  the  genus 
being  Or-ikoc'-e-ras  or  "straight  horn").  Like  Nautilus,  the 


188  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

shell  is  divided  by  cross  partitions  or  septa  at  frequent  intervals. 
Like  Nautilus,  it  is  a  gradually  tapering  tube.  Like  Nautilus, 
there  is  near  the  center  of  each  septum,  a  small  perforation 
from  which  leads  a  little  tube  to  the  next  septum,  and  thus 
through  all  the  septa  and  intervening  chambers.  This  tube  is 
the  siphunde.  Like  Nautilus,  each  septum  is  simply  and 
plainly  concave  with  the  concavity  turned  toward  the  larger 
end  of  the  shell.  As  in  Nautilus,  the  last  chamber  is  deep, 
and  undoubtedly  this  was  the  portion  to  which  the  animal 
was  confined.  If  Nautilus  should  be  uncoiled,  it  would  be 
precisely  an  Orthoceras. 

How  the  relics  of  these  interesting  creatures  lie  packed  in 
various  parts  of  the  Niagara  limestone  through  all  its  conti- 
nent-wide extent — often  broken,  sometimes  perfect.  There  is 
no  consciousness  in  these  ruins  now.  We  can  picture  them, 
however,  the  homes  of  creatures  which  could  feel  and  see  and 
hunger  and  desire,  and  entertain  a  purpose.  We  can  think 
back  the  wide-ten tacled  bodies  which  rested  in  the  outer 
chamber.  We  can  see  them,  in  thought,  spreading  their 
strong  arms,  glaring  with  their  great  glassy  eyes,  pursuing 
with  hungry  ferocity  their  prey,  tearing  with  their  lance-like 
mandibles,  and  feeding  with  the  gusto  and  relish  of  a  true 
carnivore. 

We  notice  among  the  dead  chambered  shells  some  varia- 
tions. In  form,  a  few  are  slightly  bent,  while  most  are 
straight.  In  some,  the  traverse  section  is  oval,  while  generally, 
it  is  almost  circular.  In  some,  the  place  of  the  siphuncle,  in- 
stead of  being  central,  is  a  little  distance  away  from  the 
center — but  not  in  the  margin.  We  notice,  also,  that  the 
septum  is  sometimes  undulate  around  the  margin,  instead  of 
plane.  Thus  nature  shows  a  susceptibility  to  vary.  Her 
forms  are  fashioned  after  fundamental  plans,  but  not  all  cast 
in  one  mould.  For  some  reason  which  may  be  inscrutable, 
she  seems  always  playing  off  from  the  main  path,  with  a 
sense  of  freedom  rather  than  necessity. 

Right  here,  in  the  midst  of  these  ancient  Orthoceratites, 
are  the  relics  of  organisms  decidedly  divergent.  Here  are 


ANCESTRY  OF  THE  PEARLY  NAUTILUS.        189 

coiled  chambered  shells  which  almost  any  person  would  iden- 
tify with  Nautilus.  They  really  have  all  the  essential  char- 
acters of  Nautilus;  but  you  will  notice  that  they  are  not 
closely  coiled ;  we  do  not  find  each  whorl  overlapping  and 
concealing  all  the  others ;  and  the  last  whorl  is  even  a  little 
separated  from  the  preceding  one  (Lit-u-i'-tes).  Many  others 
are  coiled,  but  somewhat  loosely,  and  the  siphuncle  is  one  side 
of  the  center — sometimes  close  to  the  outer  margin  (Gy-roc'-e- 
ras).  Still  others  are  curved  enough  to  form  one  whorl,  but 
not  properly  coiled,  and  the  siphuncle  is  close  to  the  outer 
margin  (Cyr-toc'-e-ras).  But  we  have  not  time  to  trace  all 
the  varieties  of  the  type  of  chambered  shells  even  among 
the  Silurian  limestones.  We  may  have  future  opportunity  to- 
glance  at  the  history  of  this  type,  and  show  the  great  improve- 
ments made  in  complication  and  decoration,  during  the  Meso- 
zoic  ages. 

In  strolling  through  the  quarries  excavated  in  the  Niagara 
limestone — in  the  suburbs  of  Chicago,  for  instance,  or  at 
Joliet  or  Waukesha — our  attention  is  constantly  arrested  by 
the  remains  of  shells,  corals,  and  criuoids.  The  bivalve  shells 
are  chiefly  Brack '-i-o-pods.  They  are  lower  in  rank  than  clams 
and  river  mussels.  They  may  always  be  known  by  having 
the  beak  and  hinge  in  the  center  of  the  valve,  with  the 
valves  presenting  the  same  slope  and  curvature  each  way 
from  the  beak.  They  may  also  be  known  by  having  one 
valve  more  swollen  than  the  other.  Many  also,  have  a  deep 
depression  (Sinus)  along  one  valve  from  the  beak  to  the 
opposite  margin,  and  a  corresponding  elevation  (Fold)  in  the 
opposite  valve.  Brachiopods  are  now  nearly  extinct.  The 
univalve  shells  are  mostly  Gas'-ter-o-pods.  These  are  higher  in 
rank  than  clams  and  mussels. 

The  Crinoids  were  plant-like  forms  (Zo'-o-phytes)  but  strictly 
animals  in  nature.  The  most  common  kinds  were  rooted  to 
the  muddy  sea-bottom,  as  is  proved  by  specimens  quite  abund- 
ant in  Niagara  shales  at  Waldron,  Indiana.  The  old  roots 
are  found  going  down  into  the  clay  like  the  roots  of  an  oak. 
Above  the  root  rises  a  stony  stem,  ten  or  fifteen  inches  high, 


190  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

and  from  an  eighth  to  half  an  inch  in  diameter.  This  is  simply 
a  pile  of  little  button-like  discs,  each  one  with  a  hole  through 
the  center,  and  some  radial  striae  on  the  flat  sides.  So  there 
is  a  perforation  through  the  whole  length  of  the  stem.  Some- 
times several  of  the  segments  remain  attached  together;  but 
generally,  they  are  separated  and  scattered  through  the  rock. 
In  some  European  countries  they  have  long  been  known  as 
"  St.  Cuthbert's  beads."  We  find  them  in  great  abundance 
in  the  drift  of  the  Northwestern  States.  At  the  top  of  the 
stem  we  find  a  little  urn  composed  of  many  stony  plates 
nicely  joined  together  by  their  edges.  The  urn  has  a  cover 
similarly  formed.  Most  of  these  bodies  are  found  disjointed 
in  the  rocks;  but  there  is  one  which  seems  to  have  held 
together  very  firmly  (Car-y-oc'^ri-nus)  and  is  found  in  the 
Niagara  strata  almost  everywhere.  The  external  surfaces  of 
the  plates  of  the  cup  are  elaborately  chased  and  embossed ; 
but  this  I  must  tell  you  is  not  an  armed  and  rooted  crinoid ; 
it  is  a  Cystid,  having  no  arms  and  with  a  tail-like  stem.  In 
the  true  crinoids  we  find  a  row  of  arms — generally  ten — rising 
from  the  border  of  the  urn  or  cup;  and  these  often  branch 
or  give  off  a  delicate  fringe.  The  arm  and  its  subdivisions 
are  composed  of  flattened  stony  plates  or  pieces  joined 
together  according  to  the  general  plan  of  the  animal. 

We  thus  see  that  when  nature  adopts  a  particular  method 
for  the  construction  of  one  part  of  an  animal,  she  pursues 
faithfully  the  same  method  in  the  formation  of  all  the  parts. 
Thus  it  appears  that  the  works  of  nature  are  formed  according 
to  plans.  Any  thing  which  is  a  plan  has  been  thought  out. 
The  plans  of  Nature  are  the  expressions  of  mind. 


THE  KING  CRAB'S 
AND  OTHER  GRANDFATHERS. 

CAMBRIAN   FOSSLLS. 

ONE  who  strolls  along  the  coast  of  New  England  or  the 
contiguous  islands  will  notice  many  things  "cast  up  by  the 
sea,"  but  one  of  the  most  interesting  is  the  King  Crab, 


THE  KING  CRAB'S  GRANDFATHER.  191 

lus  Pol-y-phe-mus.  It  seems  to  be  essentially  a  wide  basin  with 
a  small  and  spike-like  handle.  It  is  in  fact  employed  by  the 
fisherman  for  removing  water  from  his  boat.  The  same  objects 
are  strewn  along  the  beach  all  the  way  to  Charleston.  A  few 
years  ago,  Professor  A.  S.  Packard  determined  to  make  the 
acquaintance  of  the  King  Crab  family  and  study  his  pedigree. 
He  found  very  few  printed  documents  on  this  strange  subject, 
and  he  therefore  betook  himself  to  a  method  of  investigation 
at  which  you  will  certainly  be  amused.  He  studied  the  King 
Crab's  eggs.  He  studied  them  seriously  and  thoroughly  by 
the  aid  of  microscopes.  More  strictly  speaking,  he  studied 
the  progressive  development  of  the  embryo  within  the  egg. 
He  believed — for  many  others  so  believe — that  the  several  em- 
bryonic stages  are  pictures  of  the  ancestors  of  the  animal.  He 
believed  that  the  first  trace  of  an  embryonic  form  would  be  a 
picture  of  the  remotest  ancestor — either  in  its  embryonic  or 
adult  stage ;  and  that  the  phases  presented  by  the  later  stages 
of  the  embryo  would  be  pictures  of  later  ancestors.  I  will 
tell  you  what  he  found  out,  and  you  may  believe  that  it 
means  what  he  says  it  does,  or  you  may  find  out  a  more 
probable  meaning. 

Professor  Packard  discovered  that  the  earlier  embryo  of 
the  King  Crab  shows  a  striking  resemblance  to  the  early  stages 
of  soft-shelled  shrimps  and  low  fresh  water  crustaceans  now 
living ;  and  that  in  a  later  stage,  the  embryo  of  the  King  Crab 
was  strikingly  like  certain  Tril'obites  found  fossil  in  the  Cam- 
brian strata.  There  are  at  least  three  genera  of  such  Trilo- 
bites — Ag-nosf-tus  and  Sa'-o  from  the  bottom  of  the  Cambrian, 
and  Tri-nu' '-de-us  from  the  Upper  Cambrian.  Now,  the  mean- 
ing of  this  is,  according  to  some,  that  our  King  Crab  is  de- 
scended from  the  same  primeval  stock  as  these  trilobites;  and 
that  all  the  trilobites  were  descended  from  that  stock.  This, 
in  fact,  means  evolution,  and, — we  might  as  well  say  it  at 
once, — that  it  means  all  the  Crustacea  have  descended  from 
the  same  primitive  stock.  It  is  supposed  that  primitive  crus- 
tacean lived  before  Cambrian  time.  On  this  subject  I  do  not 
wish  to  say  any  more  at  present;  but  before  we  finish  these 


192  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

talks,  I  will  give  you  a  fair  and  simple  explanation  of  the 
famous  theory  of  Evolution. 

But  what  are  Crustaceans  ?  Aquatic  animals  covered  by  a 
crust  which  is  composed  of  a  series  of  segments  or  rings  joined 
by  their  edges;  and  having  more  than  eight  feet.  Of  these, 
Lobsters  and  Crawfishes  are  examples.  And  what  are  those 
Trilobites  ?  They  are  crustaceans  in  which  the  body  is  divided 
lengthwise  by  two  grooves,  into  three  lobes — the  axis  running 
along  the  middle,  and  a  lateral  lobe  each  side.  The  Trilobites 
were  very  ancient  animals.  I  say  "  were,"  because  the  last  of 
them  perished  millions  of  years  ago,  during  the  progress  of'the 
Carboniferous  Age.  Here  are  the  tombs  of  their  remotest  an- 
cestors. Here  lie  their  forms  imbedded  in  these  primordial 
sandstones  and  slates. 

Let  me  explain  about  these  sandstones  and  slates.  At 
Potsdam,  in  northern  New  York,  and  throughout  that  vicinity, 
a  gray  sandstone  lies  at  the  surface — the  same  as  referred  to 
in  Talk  XIX.  It  stretches  across  the  St.  Lawrence  River, 
and  north-eastward  along  its  valley.  It  encircles  the  Adiron- 
dack highlands.  This  is  the  Potsdam  Sandstone.  Westward 
it  stretches  through  Canada  to  the  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  and  along 
the  south  shore  of  Lake  Superior  to  Keweenaw  Point.  The 
"Pictured  Rocks"  are  part  of  it.  Southward  from  this  shore 
it  disappears  under  the  Trenton  Limestone.  It  is  the  Potsdam 
Sandstone  which  forms  the  lower  portion  of  the  high  cliffs 
along  the  Upper  Mississippi  River.  It  is  in  this  sandstone 
that  multitudes  of  these  ancestral  Trilobites  lie  packed  away. 
They  have  had  a  hard  time,  however.  They  are  all  in  pieces, 
and  it  is  difficult  to  get  sufficient  pieces  together  to  describe 
any  one  of  the  species.  The  sands  from  which  this  sandstone 
was  formed  must  have  beaten  to  and  fro  in  shallow  water,  or 
along  some  beach  for  many  years.  These  trilobites  are  but  a 
few  inches  in  length. 

Besides  Trilobites,  we  find  in  the  Potsdam  Sandstone,  many 
remains  of  little  bivalve  shells  called  Lin'gula.  This  is  a  genus 
of  Brachiopods,  a  low  class  of  Molluscs.  The  name  signifies  a 
"little  tongue,"  referring  to  the  shape.  This  is  a  remarkable 


THE  KING  CRAB'S  GRANDFATHER.  193 

genus,  for  it  has  been  in  existence  on  the  earth  from  the  epoch 
of  the  Potsdam  Sandstone  to  the  present.  In  every  formation 
are  some  species  of  Languid ;  and  living  species  may  be  found 
along  our  Atlantic  coast,  clinging  by  their  fleshy  peduncles  to 
the  wharves  and  other  supports.  Another  remarkable  fact 
about  Ijingula  is  this :  Its  shell  is  composed  largely  of  bony 
substance — phosphate  of  lime — while  the,  shells  of  ordinary 
molluscs  are  composed  of  stony  substance — carbonate  of  lime; 
and  this  peculiarity  of  constitution  has  clung  to  this  little  type 
through  all  the  ages. 

It  is  a  peculiarity  of  Brachiopods  to  have  the  two  valves 
unequal;  one  is  more  convex  than  the  other.  The  more  con- 
vex valve  has  also  the  more  projecting  beak.  But  each  is 
symmetrical  taken  by  itself.  That  is,  if  you  lay  it  down  on 
the  side,  you  see  the  beak  in  the  middle,  and  on  each  side  of 
it,  the  outline  of  the  valve  presents  the  same  shape  and  curve. 
Now,  the  clam  and  river  mussel  are  quite  different.  In  these, 
the  two  valves  are  equally  convex;  and,  if  you  consider  one 
valve  by  itself,  it  is  not  symmetrical.  That  is,  if  you  lay  a 
valve  down  on  its  side,  you  find  the  beak  nearer  one  end; 
and  the  slope  of  the  shell-outline  is  not  the  same  on  each  side 
of  the  beak.  Shells  of  this  sort  belong  to  the  class  La-md'-li- 
branchs.  All  the  difference  in  the  forms  of  these  two  classes 
arises  from  the  position  of  the  animal  in  the  shell.  In  the 
Lamellibranchs,  one  valve  is  on  the  right  side  and  the  other 
on  the  left.  So  the  principle  of  bilateral  symmetry  makes  one 
valve  the  counterpart  of  the  other.  In  the  Brachiopods,  one 
valve  is  on  the  back  and  the  other  over  the  abdomen.  So 
the  principle  of  bilateral  symmetry  does  not  operate  between 
the  two  valves;  but  the  right  and  left  sides  of  each  valve 
separately  are  symmetrically  developed.  By  bilateral  sym- 
metry we  mean  the  law  or  principle  which  causes  every  fea- 
ture of  the  right  side  of  an  animal  to  have  a  corresponding 
feature  on  the  left  side.  This  principle  runs  through  the 
whole  animal  kingdom.  Even  among  the  star-fisheSj  crinoids, 
corals  or  other  so-called  "radiate"  animals,  we  can  draw  a 
line  which  will  separate  right  and  left  sides.  Try  it  in  a  star-fish. 

17 


194  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

The  Potsdam  Sandstone  from  northern  New  York  to  Min- 
nesota appears  to  be  the  lowest  formation  above  the  Eozoic 
crystalline  rocks.  The  copper-bearing  rocks  are  older,  but  it 
is  not  yet  decided  whether  we  should  regard  them  as  embraced 
in  the  Palaeozoic  System  or  not.  There  is  also,  in  Wisconsin 
and  Minnesota,  a  massive  quartzite  formation  underneath  the 
Potsdam  Sandstone;  but  as  it  is  not  fully  proved  to  contain 
any  fossils,  we  are  not  certain  whether  to  call  it  Eozoic  or  not. 
But  in  Vermont,  in  eastern  Massachusetts  and  in  New  Bruns- 
wick, are  slates  which  underlie  the  Potsdam  and  contain  fos- 
sils. ( ' l  Acadian  "  or  "  St.  John  "  Group) .  Some  of  these  were 
Trilobites  ten  to  twenty  inches  long. 

Down  in  these  lowest  Palaeozoic  strata  we  find  also,  other 
remains  of  animal  types.  Here  for  instance,  are  "  chambered 
shells  " — the  grandfathers  of  those  described  in  the  last  Talk. 
We  find  here  Or-ikoc'-e-ras,  as  well  as  some  marked  deviations 
from  it.  Here  are  the  oldest  examples  known  of  this  type. 
Here,  we  might  say,  was  its  first  introduction  to  the  world  ; 
and  we  might  begin  to  query  how  it  came  here.  We  should 
be  inclined  to  think  it  was  an  abrupt  introduction,  without 
predecessors  gradually  more  and  more  simple  as  we  should  trace 
them  into  remoter  ages.  If  an  abrupt  "introduction,  it  was 
not  an  evolution  from  some  older  form,  because  evolution  pro- 
ceeds by  gradual  transitions.  Such  is  the  conclusion  of  some 
scientific  men ;  and  if  we  were  obliged  to  form  a  conclusion 
on  the  whole  question  from  the  facts  connected  with  the  first 
appearance  of  chambered  shells,  I  think  we  should  all  say 
they  did  not  appear  according  to  the  method  of  evolution. 
We  must  be  candid,  however,  and  consider  all  the  circum- 
stances. We  only  wish  to  ascertain  how  the  facts  were — not 
to  make  ourselves  think  them  different  from  the  reality.  If 
chambered  shells  appeared  according  .to  evolution,  that  is  the 
thing  we  want  to  know ;  and  it  would  be  a  pity  to  make  ourselves 
believe  something  not  in  accordance  with  God's  ordination  of 
things.  Now  we  know  full  well  that  the  rocks  older  than  the 
Cambrian  have  been  subjected  to  such  actions  since  they  were 
deposited  as  ocean-sediments,  that  their  aspect  is  totally  trans- 


THE  KING  CRAB'S  GRANDFATHER.  195 

formed.  We  may  feel  confident  that  if  any  shells  or  corals 
had  been  originally  inclosed  in  the  sediments,  they  would 
have  been  destroyed.  Especially  would  carbonate  of  lime 
have  disappeared.  Therefore,  we  are  not  certain  that  no  cham- 
bered shells  existed  before  the  Cambrian.  They  may  have 
existed.  They  may  have  been  so  formed  and  constituted  as 
to  show  that  the  Cambrian  species  were  not  suddenly  intro- 
duced, but  made  their  appearance  in  such  graduated  succes- 
sion as  evolution  implies.  Here,  at  least,  is  a  possibility 
which  prevents  us  from  feeling  confident  that  the  Cambrian 
Orthocer'atites  were  introduced  by  a  sudden  creation. 

In  these  lowest  Cambrian  strata  are,  also,  still  other  forms. 
Here  we  find  Gas'-ter-o-pods — univalve  shells  coiled  up.  These, 
too,  are  well  advanced  from  any  humble  beginning  of  Gas- 
teropods — in  case  they  began  in  a  humble  way.  The  same 
queries  arise  as  in  the  case  of  chambered  shells.  Now,  to 
recapitulate,  we  find  in  these  lowest,  fossil-bearing  strata,  re- 
mains of  several  types  of  animals  appearing  to  our  knowledge 
for  the  first  time,  but  all  well  advanced  beyond  the  lowest 
grades  of  the  orders  to  which  they  belong.  Here,  in  the  very 
lowest  strata,  are  Trilobites ;  Lingula  and  some  related  genera 
of  Brachiopods,  as  well  as  OS-this,  quite  a  different  genus,  and 
perhaps  Worms.  In  the  Potsdam  Sandstone  are,  also,  Trilo- 
bites, as  well  as  other  crustaceans,  Grap' '-to-lites  (branching  plant- 
like  animals  with  a  horny  skeleton),  Sponges  (of  calcareous 
kind),  Lingula  and  other  Brachiopods;  Pteropods;  Gastero- 
pods  and  Orihoceras.  I  enumerate  them  simply  to  make  clear 
the  fact  that  at  the  very  dawn  of  the  Cambrian  Age  numer- 
ous types  well  advanced  in  rank,  suddenly  appeared.  You 
will  notice,  however,  that  several  important  types  of  animals 
were  absent.  Here  were  no  corals,  no  crinoids,  no  Bryozoans, 
no  Lamellibranchs. 

So  far  we  have  confined  our  attention  to  the  lowest  group 
of  the  Cambrian  rocks,  composed  of  the  Acadian  or  St.  John 
formation  and  the  Potsdam  Sandstones.  Next  above  the  Pots- 
dam is  the  Calciferous  formation.  It  is  very  conspicuous 
along  the  bluffs  of  the  Upper  Mississippi,  where  it  forms  gen- 


196  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

erally  the  upper  half.  Like  the  Potsdam  Sandstone  it  is 
huffish  in  color,  and  disposed  to  crumble  to  pieces.  In  the 
north-west  it  is  known  as  the  Lower  Magnesian  Limestone.  It 
contains  the  lead  mines  of  Missouri  (Talk  XXI).  Above  this 
comes  the  St.  Peters  Sandstone,  white,  clean,  and  destitute 
of  fossils ;  but  this  is  not  known  at  the  east.  Next  is  the 
Trenton  Group,  which  contains  the  great  Trenton  Limestone. 
Like  the  other  great  central  limestone  masses  (Niagara,  Cor- 
niferous,  Lower  Carboniferous)  this  forms  a  conspicuous  land- 
mark across  the  country,  and  constitutes  the  rich  repository  of 
the  remains  of  the  animals  which  dwelt  in  the  Upper  Cam- 
brian ocean.  This  limestone  mass  forms  the  bluffs  at  St.  Paul 
and  Minneapolis;  comes  up  on  the  north  side  of  the  Mani- 
toulin  Islands ;  stretches  westward  across  Ste.  Mary's  river,  and 
running  through  the  Upper  Peninsula  of  Michigan,  goes  down 
along  the  west  side  of  Green  Bay,  into  southern  Wisconsin, 
northern  Illinois,  and  north-eastern  Iowa,  holding  the  lead 
mines  in  these  three  states ;  outcrops  over  a  large  area  about 
Cincinnati,  extending  to  Madison  and  Richmond,  Indiana,  and 
Frankfort  and  Lexington,  Kentucky  ;  outcrops  again  at  Nash- 
ville and  surrounding  region ;  stretches  through  central  New 
York  to  Watertown,  and  across  the  St.  Lawrence  to  Georgian 
Bay,  stretching  along  its  eastern  shore  and  emerging  again  at 
the  Manitoulin  Islands.  Everywhere,  this  group  of  limestones 
and  shaly  limestones  is  wonderfully  rich  in  the  remains  of 
creatures  which  swarmed  in  the  seas  of  the  twilight  ages  of  the 
world.  Most  delicate  structures,  most  exquisitely  preserved, 
which  never  cease  to  excite  our  admiration  and  our  wonder. 
Many  a  geologist  has  devoted  a  large  part  of  his  lifetime  to 
their  study,  and  it  seems  a  pity  that  we  must  pass  them  by 
with  a  simple  mention. 


EARTH 's  DEEPEST  GEAVES.  197 


XXXIV.    EARTH'S  DEEPEST  GRAVES. 

THE   EOZOIC    ANIMAL. 

WE  are  down  now,  on  the  bottom  rocks  of  the  earth's  crust. 
This  is  the  home  of  the  vitrified  and  crystalline  bowlders 
which  overstrew  the  surface.  There  are  fifty  thousand  feet 
of  later  strata  resting  above  these  rocks  in  regions  where  the 
series  is  complete.  But  here,  and  over  extensive  regions,  the 
deep  Eozoic  beds  have  been  arched  up  to  the  surface,  and  no 
newer  rocks  have  ever  formed  over  them ;  or  if  they  were, 
have  subsequently  been  worn  away.  Luckily  for  the  geologist, 
the  modern  sun-light  has  been  let  into  them,  and  we  have 
gained  some  general  knowledge  of  them,  though  [it  must  be 
confessed,  a  very  great  amount  of  ignorance  remains.  Let  us 
see  what  has  been  found  out. 

In  the  first  place,  deep  as  we  have  ever  penetrated  into 
these  Eozoic  rocks,  they  all  retain  some  traces  of  stratification. 
In  most  cases,  the  stratification  is  very  obscure;  in  many 
cases,  it  is  quite  obliterated,  but  rocks  of  this  sort  furnish  some 
evidence  of  their  original  bedding.  Often  they  differ  from 
stratified  rocks  in  no  other  particular.  Sometimes  we  can  trace 
them  into  continuity  with  stratified  rocks.  In  all  cases  the 
crystals  which  they  contain,  and  the  crystalline  condition  of 
the  rocks  indicate  solidification  from  a  state  of  solution  or  soft- 
ening which  requires  the  presence  of  water.  Grant  us  water 
and  heat,  and  the  present  condition  would  be  produced  from 
ordinary  ocean  sediments.  We  must  look  upon  all  these  rocks 
as  ocean-born.  Hard  and  crystalline  as  they  now  are,  we  must 
think  of  them  as  at  one  time  in  the  condition  of  ocean-slime. 
These  rocky  beds  have  been  successively  ocean  bottom.  These 
rocks  too,  have  successively  rested  as  sediments  upon  an  ocean- 
bottom  preexisting.  There  must  have  been  an  ocean-bottom 
for  the  very  first  sediments  to  rest  on.  Let  us  remember  this. 

In  the  next  place,  the  very  oldest  rocks  known  are  granites, 
syenites,  gneisses,  and  hornblendic  schists.  Not  having  seen 
the  bottom  of  this  series,  we  can  not  state  its  thickness.  At 
a  higher  level,  have  been  found,  in  the  north-west,  conglom- 


198  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

erates,  quartzites,  and  marble,  all  together  attaining  a  thickness 
of  one  thousand  to  six  thousand  feet.  Then  come  various 
schistose  "rocks  and  diorites ;  and  about  here  occur  great  beds 
of  haematite  or  iron  ore.  This  series  is  four  thousand  or  five 
thousand  feet  thick.  Next  above  are  black  slates  and  schists, 
often  ferruginous,  and  other  diorites,  making  about  twenty-six 
hundred  feet  more.  Next,  are  five  thousand  feet  of  mica  schists, 
and  finally,  several  hundred  feet  of  granite  and  gneiss  and  kin- 
dred rocks.  These  rocks  altogether  aggregate  a  thickness  not 
exceeding  twenty-five  thousand  feet.  But  this  may  not  embrace 
all.  In  Canada,  Sir  William  Logan  computed  the  Eozoic  rocks 
as  fifty  thousand  feet  thick,  and  that  estimate  is  generally 
adopted.  The  thing  of  chief  importance  here,  is  to  know  that 
the  thickness  is  great,  and  the  rocks  are  all  crystalline. 

Now,  we  explore  these  old  rocks  from  bottom  to  top,  and 
scarcely  find  a  trace  of  organic  remains.  Who  could  expect 
fossil  shells  or  corals  imbedded  in  hard  rocks  consisting  of  frag- 
ments of  crystals  and  grains  of  quartz,  feldspar,  mica,  and 
hornblende?  The  nature  of  the  rock  proclaims  changes  in 
constitution  which  must  have  dissolved  or  destroyed  all  relics 
of  the  hard  parts  of  animals.  Here  must  be  some  lost  chap- 
ters of  the  history  of  life — the  first  chapters  in  the  volume. 
It  is  like  the  loss  of  the  Alexandrian  Library.  Could  the 
records  of  those  earliest  ages  be  restored,  how  many  outstand- 
ing doubts  and  irresolvable  problems  would  be  disposed  of! 
But  since  the  records  are  wanting — since  the  records  may  be 
regarded  as  lost,  we  must  proceed — not  as  if  the  records  never 
existed,  but  by  some  rational  process  to  reproduce  the  records. 
From  the  bottom  of  the  Cambrian  up,  we  have  learned  well 
the  general  tenor  of  the  history  of  life.  We  must  project  that 
tenor  backward  toward  a  lost  beginning.  When  the  death  of 
Dickens,  in  1870,  left  "The  Mystery  of  Edwin  Droud"  an 
unfinished  tale,  it  was  considered  not  impracticable  to  devise 
concluding  chapters  which  should  carry  out  the  tenor  of  the 
work  as  revealed  in  the  written  chapters — a  conclusion  which 
should  form  a  unity  with  the  portion  in  which  the  author  had 
divulged  his  plan  and  purpose.  By  the  same  principles  the 


EARTH'S  DEEPEST  GRAVES.  199 

lost  chapters  at  the  beginning  of  the  story  of  life  may  be 
plausibly  restored ;  and  this  course  is  infinitely  wiser  than  to 
sit  by  and  hug  our  ignorance,  or  deny  that  any  chapters  have 
been  lost,  and  proceed  to  argue  as  if  we  had  the  whole  history. 

But  thanks  to  the  Canadian  geologists,  the  first  chapters 
are  not  completely  lost.  We  have  a  fragment  of  a  page ;  and 
we  know  about  where  in  the  book  it  belonged.  In  the  lower 
part  of  this  vast  series  of  rocks  are  in  Canada  three  great  beds 
of  marble  or  crystalline  limestone.  In  the  third,  or  upper 
one,  occur  some  forms  which  appear  to  be  organic.  These 
were  brought  to  the  notice  of  the  scientific  world  in  1856. 
They  have  been  studied  by  mineralogists,  palaeontologists  and 
chemists.  They  have  been  subjected  to  most  searching  mi- 
croscopic study.  The  general  opinion  is  that  they  are  organic 
remains ;  and  they  have  by  general  consent  been  referred  to 
a  group  of  organisms  of  low  grade  called  Fo-ram-i-nif'-e-ra — 
the  same  as  that  to  which  Globigeri'na  belongs  (Talk  X). 
A  few  mineralogists  regard  them  as  inorganic.  These  forms 
have  been  obtained  at  several  localities  in  Canada,  as  also,  in 
New  York,  near  Troy,  in  Ireland,  in  Bohemia  and  else- 
where. They  contain  certain  features  which,  in  my  opinion, 
could  not  be  regarded  as  of  mineral  origin.  On  the  con- 
trary, they  closely  resemble  some  structures  found  in  certain 
Foraminifera. 

In  the  mass,  we  notice  a  concentric  or  laminated  structure, 
as  if  the  organism  were  formed  of  numerous  layers  wrapped, 
one  about  another.  These  layers,  in  most  cases,  consist  alter- 
nately of  serpentine  and  carbonate  of  lime.  The  serpentine, 
as  is  believed,  occupies  the  place  of  the  fleshy  part  of  the 
animal,  while  the  carbonate  of  lime  is  its  skeleton  ;  and  we 
may  speak  of  it  as  coral,  for  in  many  respects  it  was  like 
coral,  though  produced  by  an  animal  much  lower  in  rank 
than  the  polyps  which  secrete  true  coral.  When  we  prepare 
extremely  thin  slices  of  this  skeleton,  some  minute  structures 
are  seen  under  the  microscope,  which  convince  us  of  their 
animal  nature.  The  name  of  this  creature  is  E-o-zo'-on  can-a- 
den'-se  or  the  "Dawn  Animal  of  Canada." 


200  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

Now,  if  we  understand  correctly  the  nature  of  this  animal, 
it  was  related  to  A-mce'-ba,  a  minute  soft  creature  often  found 
in  stagnant  fresh  waters.  Those  who  use  the  microscope  to 
search  for  animalcules  may  sometimes  discover  in  the  field  of 
view,  a  little  shapeless  lump  which  seems  like  a  particle  of 
dirt,  except  that  it  is  partially  transparent.  While  wishing 
it  out  of  the  way,  it  is  seen  to  move.  On  one  side  is  extended 
a  little  arm  or  tentacle ;  it  is  then  withdrawn.  But  suddenly, 
one  or  two  others  are  protruded ;  and  we  find  that  the  crea- 
ture generally  keeps  two  or  three  tentacles  extended.  But  one 
or  all  may  be  very  capriciously  withdrawn ;  and  when  with- 
drawn, it  is  impossible  to  trace  any  outline  of  them.  The 
tentacles  melt  into  the  general  substance  of  the  body.  In 
the  interior  can  be  seen  what  is  called  a  "nucleus"  and  a 
"  contractile  vesicle." 

Attending  carefully  to  the  movements  of  Amceba,  we  dis- 
cover that  they  have  an  end  in  view.  The  tentacles  are  ex- 
tended in  search  of  food.  This  animal  is  hungry.  It  is  con- 
scious of  hunger.  It  knows  how  to  secure  food.  It  has  a 
will  which  sets  its  organs  in  motion.  It  knows  how  to  seize  a 
particle  of  food.  See!  its  arm  is  wound  about  a  minute  ani- 
malcule; it  holds  it,  but  now,  it  does  not  convey  it  to  the 
mouth.  Where  is  the  mouth  ?  In  truth,  there  is  none.  The 
arm  is  absorbed — animalcule  and  all.  It  disappears  in  the 
common  mass  of  jelly,  and  the  animalcule  is  seen  within  it. 
So  this  creature  feeds.  It  gets  around  its  food  successfully ; 
but  it  simply  pours  itself  over  it.  What  an  amazing  simplicity 
of  structure  is  here  !  Indeed,  there  is  no  structure ;  we  have 
little  more  than  a  shapeless  particle  of  jelly.  Whenever  the 
animal  takes  breakfast,  it  extemporizes  an  arm  for  seizing  it. 
Whenever  it  eats,  a  mouth  is  extemporized  for  admission  of 
food,  and  a  stomach  is  extemporized  for  receiving  and  digest- 
ing it.  From  all  the  ailments  of  hands,  mouth,  teeth,  and 
stomach  this  animal  is  happily  free.  Exempt  from  headache, 
sore  eyes,  ringing  ears  and  heart-flutterings,  it  still  exercises 
all  the  functions  requisite  to  make  it  an  animal. 

And  this  modern  creature  is  the  representative  of  Eozoon. 


EARTH'S  DEEPEST  GRAVES.  201 

But  Eozom  could  not  be  placed  defenseless  in  the  sea.  A 
little  lump  of  jelly  would  be  swept  into  annihilation  by  the 
force  of  the  waves.  Eozoon,  however  planted,  held  fast  to  its 
support,  and  immediately  secreted  a  strong  roof  over  him  for 
protection.  A  thousand  little  holes  through  the  roof  allowed 
threads  of  its  gelatinous  substance  to  be  protruded.  These 
coalesced  in  a  common  film  which  spread  over  the  roof  like  a 
coating  of  tar.  This  was  unprotected,  and  a  second  and 
higher  roof  was  built.  The  structure  was  now  two  stories  high. 
Through  the  upper  roof  innumerable  minute  perforations  al- 
lowed the  jelly  of  the  second  story  to  be  protruded  in  fine 
threads,  and  these  in  turn  coalesced,  and  a  third  roof  was  se- 
creted. Thus  the  process  continued,  and  the  structure  be- 
came many  stories  high.  Meantime  other  individuals  were 
planted  by  this,  or  near  this,  and  by  and  by,  they  were  so 
enlarged  that  they  grew  together,  and  grew  as  one  animal. 
So  hundreds  and  thousands  of  animals  grew  together  and  con- 
tinued to  grow  and  enlarge  the  structure  during,  probably  a 
thousand  years. 

As  time  passed  on,  this  organism  grew  old  and  effete.  The 
life-time  of  its  species  was  drawing  to  a  close.  It  was  destined 
to  be  replaced  by  something  better  suited  to  the  improved  cir- 
cumstances of  the  world.  All  the  time,  however,  the  sedi- 
ments had  been  gathering  about  the  bases  of  the  rising  reef- 
mass — as  the  dust  of  time  accumulates  about  the  temples  of 
the  ancient  cities.  As  they  become  buried  and  forgotten,  so 
the  eozoonal  reef-structures  were  buried  and  forgotten — buried 
thousands  of  feet  deep — buried  in  sea-sediments  which  became 
stone.  Then  the  seons  of  the  world  continued  to  roll  by. 
Oh,  what  a  varied  history  was  enacted  while  the  tombs  of 
Eozoon  remained  silent  and  undiscovered  ! 

In  the  Age  of  Mind,  a  marble  edifice  was  demanded  to 
meet  some  want  of  civilization.  The  primeval  tomb  was 
opened  by  the  quarryman,  and  there  rested  the  relics  of  the 
first  inhabitant  of  our  globe.  It  is  that  of  which  we  have 
been  speaking. 


202  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 


.  AN  EARLIER 

INTIMATIONS   OF   A   FIERY   JEON. 

WE  are  searching  for  a  beginning.  We  have  followed 
down  the  succession  of  formations  to  what  seems  a  foundation  ; 
but  we  perceive  this  must  rest  on  something  which  already 
existed;  it  can  not  be  the  beginning.  It  is  an  ocean-born 
mass  of  sediments.  The  ocean  preceded  the  sediments.  Some- 
thing for  the  ocean  to  rest  on  preceded  the  ocean  ;  what  was 
that  ?  Not  something  born  of  ocean.  What  existed  before 
ocean  and  ocean  sediments  ? 

You  have  just  seen  (Talk  XXXIV)  that  the  deepest  rocks 
are  hard  and  crystalline.  We  have  concluded  that  their  con- 
dition has  probably  resulted  largely  from  the  action  of  water 
and  heat.  Water  alone  would  not  dissolve  the  substances  of 
which  these  crystals  are  composed  ;  but  heated  water  would  be 
much  more  efficient.  Moreover,  the  addition  of  alkali  to  the 
heated  water  would  enable  it  to  dissolve  nearly  all  the  sub- 
stances in  these  lower  rocks.  However  mud-like  or  sandy  the 
sediments  originally  were,  heated  alkaline  waters  would  dis- 
solve them;  and  then,  if  the  solution  were  allowed  to  cool,  the 
various  constituents  would  enter  into  such  combinations  as 
suited  their  several  affinities  for  each  other.  So  the  resulting 
state  of  the  materials  would  be  extremely  different  from  that 
of  the  original  sediments.  This  is  at  least  a  part  of  the  pro- 
cess called  metamorphism  of  the  rocks  —  a  subject  to  which 
your  attention  has  been  many  times  called,  and  a  cause  of  the 
disappearance  of  any  organic  remains  in  rocks  thus  meta- 
morphosed. 

But  in  this  connection,  the  important  point  is  the  evi- 
dence of  ancient  heat  universally  extended.  I  do  not  suppose 
the  metamorphism  of  the  rocks  has  taken  place  at  the  surface. 
The  heat  engaged  seems  to  have  been  interior  heat.  It  was 
shut  in  and  retained  for  ages  by  overlying  masses  of  strata. 
And  yet  I  doubt  if  all  metamorphic  regions  now  exposed  have 
been  formerly  covered.  Much  yet  remains  to  be  learned  about 
metamorphism. 


AN  EARLIER  BEGINNING.  203 

That  the  heat  was  internal  is  evinced  by  many  proofs  of 
the  continued  existence  of  internal  heat.  You  will  recall  the 
facts  cited  in  Talk  XVII.  You  will  recall  the  phenomena  of 
geysers  and  hot  springs  (Talk  XIV).  You  will  remember  that 
lavas  from  volcanoes  come  up  from  some  heated  interior  (Talk 
XV).  Your  thoughts  will  again  glance  over  the  thousands 
of  square  miles  of  surface  covered  by  lavas  which  issued 
through  fissures  in  the  Age  preceding  the  present  (Talk  XVI). 
You  will  be  vividly  impressed  with  the  .conviction  that  in- 
tense, fusing  heat  exists  within  the  earth  ;  and  since  all  heat 
tends  to  waste  away,  you  will  conclude  that  the  earth's  surface 
temperature  was  much  higher  some  millions  of  years  ago  than 
it  is  at  present.  The  wastage  of  the  earth's  heat  is  proved  by 
actual  observation.  Science  has  measured  the  amount  of  heat 
which  comes  to  the  earth  annually — that  is,  the  amount  on 
each  square  yard — and  has  also  measured  the  amount  which 
escapes  annually ;  and  it  is  thus  shown  that  the  wastage  ex- 
ceeds the  receipts.  The  earth  is  growing  cold.  This  great 
fact  is  established  by  experiment,  by  observation  on  the  escape 
of  heat  from  within,  and  by  the  records  of  an  ancient  higher 
temperature  than  now  exists  at  the  surface. 

Cooling  off"!  That  disclosure  puts  our  minds  in  a  new  atti- 
tude toward  the  world's  history.  We  have  to  contemplate  the 
earth  as  a  cooling  globe.  That  points  our  thoughts  backward, 
along  a  progress  of  cooling.  That  summons  us  to  consider  what 
conditions  of  the  world  must  have  been  passed  in  the  progress 
of  cooling.  By  all  the  evidence  that  progressive  cooling  has 
been  a  fact,  we  are  authorized  to  reason  out  the  events  of  the 
cooling  history. 

Not  the  slightest  evidence  exists  that  the  laws  of  heat  are 
different  under  our  observation,  from  the  laws  which  controlled 
the  cooling  of  the  ancient  world.  We  know  what  they  are, 
and  what  they  were.  It  is  as  safe  to  base  backward  calcula- 
tions on  them  as  to  base  forward  calculations  on  the  planetary 
movements  which  bring  conjunctions  and  eclipses.  We  are 
on  the  safe  ground  of  reason  and  science ;  we  are  not  soaring 
on  the  wing  of  imagination.  We  are  not  calculating  events 


204  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

in  which  human  caprice  could  have  intervened.  We  are  not 
romancing ;  we  argue  from  cause  to  effect. 

This  is  the  way  reasoning  leads  us : — Following  the  course 
of  cooling  backward,  we  arrive  at  a  time  such  that  water  could 
not  have  existed  on  the  earth.  All  the  water  of  the  earth 
must  have  been  vapor  or  gas  suspended  in  the  atmosphere. 
At  a  time  when  no  ocean  had  existed,  no  ocean-sediments  had 
been  deposited,  all  those  rocks  which  have  resulted  from 
marine  sedimentation  were  yet  non-existent.  The  earth  had 
probably  a  solid  surface  of  some  kind ;  but  to  emit  heat  suffi- 
cient to  hold  all  the  water  of  the  world  in  an  uncondensed 
state,  the  temperature  of  the  surface  must  have  been  high — 
perhaps  a  glowing  temperature. 

But  even  here  we  are  in  the  midst  of  a  cooling  process. 
Why  not?  Who  can  affirm  that  the  world  began  to  exist  as 
a  red-hot  body  ?  You  know  that  red-hot  matter  may  be  made 
white-hot;  and  then  by  increase  of  heat,  may  be  rendered 
liquid.  We  must  trace  this  history  back  to  a  molten  world. 

Is  there  now  any  ground  for  refusing  to  trace  the  history 
farther  back  ?  This  is  a  cooling  process.  There  is  no  certain 
beginning  for  a  cooling  process  except  in  a  temperature  so  high 
that  the  heated  matter  exists  as  a  mere  vapor,  or  perhaps  gas. 
There  is  no  known  remoter  condition  of  matter,  though  we  may 
conceive  the  temperature  indefinitely  high.  It  is,  let  us  say, 
the  remotest  condition  which  we  seek.  Now  all  terrestrial  sub- 
stances are  capable  not  only  of  fusion,  but  of  volatilization. 
Iron  and  the  other  metals  have  been  reduced  to  vapor.  So, 
by  reversing  conditions,  all  gases  may  be  liquefied  and  then 
consolidated.  Carbonic  acid,  oxygen,  nitrogen,  chlorine, 
have  been  made  solid.  The  form  under  which  matter  exists 
is  a  circumstance  depending  on  temperature  and  pressure. 
There  is  no  inherent  improbability  that  all  the  matter  of  the 
world  was  once  so  heated  as  to  exist  in  the  form  of  vapor,  or 
even  of  gas.  Before  our  eyes  worlds  are  existing  in  those 
states. 

We  should  distinguish  between  vapor  and  gas.  Gas  is  dry, 
like  atmospheric  air — like  steam  in  the  boiler ;  vapor  is  com- 


AN  EARLIER  BEGINNING.  205 

posed  of  minute  liquid  particles  floating  in  a  gaseous  medium — 
like  the  cloud  of  steam  condensed  in  the  air  after  escaping 
from  the  boiler.  There  may  be  mineral  vapors  as  well  as 
igneous  vapors.  Most  mineral  vapors  must  be  intensely  heated. 
We  may  call  such  a  vapor  "fire-mist."  If  the  earth  were 
vaporized  by  heat,  to  what  limits  in  space  would  the  vapor 
extend?  We  must  think  of  that.  If  the  earth  was  ever  a 
fire-mist  globe  its  dimensions  were  vastly  greater  than  at 
present. 

There  is  another  thought  to  be  mentioned  here.  The  earth 
is  only  one  of  a  system  of  worlds,  and  there  is  good  reason  for 
believing  that  any  remote  origin  which  we  can  establish  for 
the  earth  must  represent  the  remote  origin  of  the  other  planets. 
In  saying  they  are  one  system,  I  refer  to  their  common  motions 
about  one  sun  ;  to  the  common  elliptic  form  of  their  orbits ;  to 
the  fact  that  all  move  from  west  to  east;  that  all  revolve 
nearly  in  one  plane  ;  that,  so  far  as  ascertained,  they  all  rotate 
on  their  axes ;  and  all  rotate  from  west  to  east ;  that  the  forms 
and  movements  of  all,  and  of  all  the  satellites,  are  conformed 
to  one  set  of  laws,  and  that  all  we  know  of  other  planets, 
points  to  a  fundamental  correspondence  and  identity  between 
them. 

This  conclusion  vastly  enlarges  our  field.  We  must  think 
of  each  of  the  planets  heated  up  to  a  fire-mist  condition.  It 
is  easier  to  think  the  sun  also  heated  to  such  condition,  since 
he  is  at  present  not  so  far  removed  from  it  as  the  planets. 
Now,  when  all  these  bodies  were  in  that  heated  condition 
which  maintained  them  in  a  fire-mist  state,  the  whole  space  of 
the  solar  system  must  have  been  filled  with  fire-mist.  Notice, 
that  I  do  not  say  it  was  fire-mist  of  any  specified  density. 
The  density  of  vapor  depends  on  the  proximity  of  the  liquid 
floating  particles,  to  each  other.  There  may  have  been  a 
diffused  very  thin  gas  also,  in  which  the  liquid  particles 
floated.  Still,  I  do  not  conceive  such  gas  necessary.  These 
particles — some  of  which  may  even  have  been  solid — would 
have  weight  smaller  than  imagination  can  conceive.  They 
were  not  particles  like  those  of  our  clouds,  influenced  by  the 


206  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

powerful  attraction  of  a  vast  globe  of  matter  not  half  a  dozen 
miles  distant,  and  hence  needing  some  buoyant  support.  These 
fire-mist,  and  perhaps  solid,  particles  were  attracted  only  by 
each  other,  and  by  the  great  common  aggregation  of  particles. 
For  the  particles  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  center  of  the 
aggregation,  the  attraction  would  be  nearly  equal  in  all  direc- 
tions. For  particles  millions  of  miles  away,  an  excess  of 
attraction  toward  the  center  would  be  felt;  but  the  force 
would  be  inconceivably  small.  So  the  mist  particles  were 
practically  suspended  in  space  and  required  no  gaseous 
support. 

The  cooling  history  can  be  traced  no  farther  back.  Such, 
probably,  was  its  beginning.  But  I  do  not  assume  that  the 
matter  of  our  system  was  originated  in  this  state.  We  may  be 
able  to  trace  out  some  remoter  antecedents ;  but  if  that  can 
not  be  done,  I  am  perfectly  prepared  to  admit  that  matter 
may  have  entered  existence  as  a  fire-mist.  However  it  origi- 
nated, the  temperature  implied  in  fire-mist  is  as  natural  and  in- 
herently probable  as  any  lower  or  higher  temperature.  Tem- 
peratures are  merely  circumstances.  Whatever  temperature 
prevails  anywhere,  things  adjust  themselves  to  it,  and  that 
is  natural. 

Now,  another  thought  is  in  every  reader's  mind.  This 
point  has  been  reached  as  a  beginning  of  a  history  of  cooling. 

From  this  point  a  natural  process  of  cooling  brings  to  pass 
all  the  events  in  our  system's  physical  history — all  the  events 
in  our  world's  history.  We  are  proposing  to  show  this,  and 
trace  the  evolution  in  its  general  outlines.  Now  you  shrink 
back  and  exclaim  "Evolution? — Fate!  Atheism!"  That,  my 
dear  friend,  shows  your  total  ignorance  of  the  nature  of 
evolution. 

Be  calm.  God  was  in  the  beginning,  is  now,  and  ever  will 
be.  God  originated;  God  controls;  God  is  in  the  midst  of 
his  works.  Suppose  we  call  the  fire-mist  the  absolute  begin- 
ning ;  there  are  certainly  three  things  which  are  not  fire-mist, 
and  require  explanation  infinitely  more  than  a  fire-mist  condi- 
tion of  matter.  Without  these  three  things,  there  would 


AN  EARLIER  BEGINNING.  207 

never  be  a  cooling  history.  These  things  are :  1.  MATTER — 
regardless  of  its  condition.  2.  FORCE — and  that  in  its  vari- 
ous forms.  3.  METHOD — or  every  thing  would  be  plunged 
in  chaos,  and  forever  remain  there.  These  things  imply 
Power,  Intelligence,  Self-determination.  Where  self-determin- 
ation is  present,  there  is  Personality.  While  the  origination 
of  Matter,  Force,  and  Method  remains,  there  is  still  need  of  a 
Creator.  These  three  things  originated,  were  the  world  to 
run  down  like  a  clock,  we  should  be  compelled  in  reason  to 
ascribe  its  whole  cycle  of  changes  to  the  primordial  activity 
of  a  Creative  Being.  For  myself,  this  conclusion  is  infinitely 
short  of  satisfactory,  as  I  shall  explain  in  due  time.  But 
even  this  is  a  theistic  view  of  the  origin  of  the  world. 


II. 

HISTORICAL  GLIMPSES? 

OR, 

STORY  OF  THE  WORLD  SET  IN  ORDER. 


XXXVI.   GATHERING*  WORLD 

WANDERING  GERMS  OF  WORLDS. 

IT  will  be  interesting  to  inquire  what  matter  was  before  it 
was  fire-mist.  If  we  can  think  out  any  movements  or  actions 
of  matter  in  any  form  which,  under  the  laws  of  nature,  would 
tend  to  bring  it  to  a  state  of  fire-mist,  then  we  ought  to  ascer- 
tain if  matter  exists  or  has  ever  existed  under  such  circum- 
stances as  to  possess  such  movements  and  exert  such  actions. 
If  we  find  such  movements  and  actions  in  real  existence,  then 
some  matter  is  now  tending  toward  a  state  of  fire-mist,  and  it 
is  reasonable  to  assume  that  the  fire-mist  in  which  the  great 
cooling  process  started,  may  have  originated  in  the  way  indi- 
cated by  what  we  see.  In  another  work  ("World  Life"),  I 
have  entered  into  some  details  on  this  subject;  but  it  will  be 
understood  that  the  inquiry  is  largely  a  speculation,  though 
suggested,  shaped,  and  guided  by  what  we  know  of  the  laws 
of  matter,  and  observe  taking  place  in  the  universe 
around  us. 

Comets  are  facts  of  observation ;  there  is  no  mistake  as  to 
the  real  existence  of  such  bodies,  whatever  they  be.  They 
always  excite  our  admiration.  They  are  full  of  wonder.  They 
come  from  the  unsearchable  depths  of  space,  and  after  shining 
in  our  heavens  a  few  weeks,  disappear  in  the  unsearchable 
depths.  What  is  their  origin?  What  their  end?  Think 
of  the  approach  of  one  of  these  mysterious  messengers 
208 


GATHERING  WORLD  STUFF.  209 

from  the  infinite.  Before  discernible  to  unaided  eyes,  the 
astronomer  with  his  instrument  detects  it  as  a  faint  luminosity 
just  appeared.  For  weeks  he  watches  its  changes.  Nightly 
it  grows  brighter.  It  is  approaching ;  it  will  arrive.  Like 
the  head-light  of  a  locomotive  seen  at  first  as  a  luminous 
point  in  the  far  distance,  over  some  miles  of  track,  gradually 
growing  brighter — with  no  other  evidence  of  motion — with 
brightness  at  length  increasing  in  accelerated  ratio,  then  daz- 
zling us  by  its  glare,  and  finally  thundering  past  with  a  veloc- 
ity which  appalls,  and  retiring  into  the  night  which  reigns  in 
the  opposite  direction — so  comes  the  head-light  of  a  train  of 
cosmical  matter;  so  grows  its  luminosity;  with  such  a  stun- 
ning demonstration  of  physical  power  it  rushes  past  us,  and 
sinks  into  infinite  distance  in  another  quarter  of  the  heavens. 
I  confess  it  is  impossible  to  contemplate  all  this  without  a 
feeling  of  awe. 

Would  that  the  mystery  of  the  comet  were  once  unfolded 
to  us !  It  tantalizes  us  by  its  near  approach  and  its  undimin- 
ished  inscrutableness.  But,  thanks  to  intelligence — thanks  to 
the  spirit  of  science — thanks  to  that  beneficent  constitution  of 
the  universe  by  which  it  gives  up  its  secrets  one  by  one,  to 
the  demands  of  intelligent  inquiry,  we  have  found  out  some- 
thing. We  have  seen  comets  torn  to  pieces  by  the  power  of 
attraction — without  a  collision — by  the  attractions  of  the  sat- 
ellites of  Jupiter.  This  was  Bi-e'-la's  [Be-a'la]  comet,  and 
each  fragment  thenceforward  pursued  its  separate  path.  We 
have  seen  comets  so  shattered  and  disintegrated  by  the  pulls 
and  strains  to  which  they  were  subjected  in  our  system — in 
making  their  circuit  about  our  sun,  in  getting  through  the  en- 
tanglements of  Jupiter's  and  Saturn's  attractions,  that  they 
appeared  literally  to  be  going  to  pieces  and  dividing  up  their 
remains  among  the  planetary  masses  of  the  system. 

The  comet,  in  short,  appears  to  be  essentially  a  train  of 
stones  flying  with  three  thousand  times  the  velocity  of  the 
railroad  "  express."  The  smaller  stones  more  resisted  than  the 
larger  ones,  by  other  matter  disseminated  through  space, 
slacken  their  motion  slightly,  and  are  struck  by  the  larger 

18 


210  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

stones  with  velocities  exceeding  that  of  a  cannon  ball.  Light 
is  disengaged,  as  when  the  cannon  ball  strikes  the  iron  target ; 
and  thus  the  whole  cometary  train  is  lighted  up.  The  nearer 
it  approaches  the  powerfully  attractive  bodies  of  our  system, 
the  greater  these  disturbances  become — the  intenser  the  lumi- 
nosity— the  more  extended  and  the  more  widened  the  train  of 
finer  materials.  But  do  not  think  this  train  of  stones  is  the  so- 
called  luminous  "tail"  of  the  comet.  The  tail  always  turns 
away  from  the  sun ;  the  dark  train  follows  in  the  path  of  the 
comet.  The  cause  of  the  tail  is  yet  a  mystery.  It  may  be  a 
smoke  of  luminous  particles  driven  off  by  the  intense  heat  of 
the  sun. 

The  comets  all  have  to  make  a  journey  around  the  sun. 
Some  of  them  remain  in  our  system  and  subject  themselves  to 
the  laws  of  the  planetary  family;  but  others  can  not  be  in- 
duced to  stay ;  they  rush  onward  with  such  velocity  that  all 
the  power  of  the  sun  and  planets  is  not  sufficient  to  stop  them. 
They  launch  out  from  our  remotest  shore,  on  the  limitless 
ocean  of  space  which  stretches  to  the  shores  of  other  systems, 
and  stretches  beyond,  farther  than  imagination  can  picture. 
But  the  comet  which  becomes  domiciled  in  our  system  seems 
gradually  to  undergo  disintegration,  and  by  and  by  its  borders 
are  spread  so  far  as  to  brush  the  atmosphere  of  some  planet 
when  passing  near  it.  Our  atmosphere  has  been  thus  pierced 
by  the  outlying  constituents  of  certain  cometary  trains. 
Sometimes  countless  thousands  of  them  shoot  through  the  air. 
These  missiles  move  with  a  velocity  as  high  as  twenty  to  forty 
miles  a  second,  and  the  friction  and  condensation  resulting 
develop  sufficient  heat  to  render  the  missile  luminous. 

We  call  it  a  meteor.  We  had  not  contemplated  the  meteor 
as  a  burning  fragment  of  an  old  decayed  comet.  But  some  of 
our  most  splendid  meteoric  displays  have  resulted  from  clouds  of 
meteoroidal  bodies  which  have  been  quite  certainly  identified 
with  recognized  comets.  At  certain  regular  intervals,  on  or 
about  the  sixteenth  of  November,  occurs  a  celebrated  meteoric 
shower  which  comes  from  a  meteoroidal  train  or  cloud  that 
has  been  identified  with  Tempel's  comet — the  first  one  observed 


GATHERING  WORLD  STUFF.  211 

in  1866.  Another  meteoric  shower  occurring  annually  about 
the  tenth  of  August  has  been  identified  with  the  third  comet 
of  1862.  Also,  the  shower  which  occurs  on  the  twenty-seventh 
of  November,  and  was  particularly  conspicuous  in  1885,  has 
been  connected  with  Biela's  comet,  first  observed  in  1826. 
This  is  the  comet  which  was  parted.  The  fragments  have  not 
appeared  to  view  during  several  revolutions;  and  there  is 
reason  to  think  nothing  remains  but  dark  trains  of  stones. 

So  much  is  pretty  well  settled.  There  are  numerous  other 
trains  of  meteoroidal  matters  which  we  have  reason  to  regard 
as  worn  out  comets.  In  fact,  since  we  have  meteoric  displays 
on  nearly  every  night  of  the  year,  must  there  not  be  as  many 
meteoroidal  trains  as  there  are  distinct  radiant  points  from 
which  the  meteors  shoot  ?  One  train,  you  understand,  might 
touch  our  atmosphere  on  one  side  and  another  on  a  different 
side.  To  our  eyes,  the  motions  of  the  ignited  meteors  would 
be  in  all  directions  from  the  region  of  contact.  That  region 
would  be  projected  on  some  constellation,  and  would  remain 
fixed  there  though  the  earth  rotated.  So  each  radiant  point 
would  imply  a  different  contact — a  different  swarm  ;  and  ac- 
cordingly there  must  be  a  hundred  swarms  or  more  which 
touch  our  atmosphere. 

But  reflect  now,  that  a  meteoroidal  swarm  is  describing  an 
orbit  about  the  sun,  and  we  learn  of  its  existence  simply  be- 
cause it  happens  to  pass  very  near  the  orbit  of  the  earth,  and 
happens  to  pass  at  the  time  when  the  earth  is  there.  If  it 
passed  at  a  little  greater  distance,  or  passed  always  when  the 
earth  was  absent,  we  should  know  nothing  of  the  swarm — save 
possibly  as  a  comet,  if  not  yet  too  much  disintegrated  to  emit 
light.  How  many  chances  against  this  favorable  concurrence 
of  positions !  How  many  more  swarms  there  must  be  which 
never  reveal  to  us  their  existence !  When  we  reflect  that  we 
are  brushed  by  say  a  hundred  of  them  annually,  must  we  not 
conclude  that  there  are  thousands  which  sweep  through  space 
unnoticed?  I  think  the  spaces  around  us  must  be  full  of 
their  motions.  Were  our  vision  perfect,  we  should  see  the 
heavens  clouded  by  swarming  meteoroids  darting  in  every  con- 


212  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

ceivable  direction — like  the  clouds  of  home-returning  swallows 
in  the  dusk  of  a  summer  evening.  These  particles  of  cos- 
mical  matters — these  clouds  of  cosmic  dust  intervene  between 
us  and  the  sun,  and  must  shut  out  a  large  proportion  of  the 
solar  light  and  heat.  We  are  told  by  Professor  J.  P. 
Langley  that  not  more  than  half  the  sun's  radiant  force  reaches 
the  earth.  They  tell  us  the  remainder  is  "absorbed"  by  the 
atmosphere  and  the  dust  which  floats  there ;  but  much  of  the 
absorption  must  be  accomplished  by  the  cosmic  matter  which 
exists  beyond  the  atmosphere.  The  absorption  thus  effected 
would  be  still  greater  to  the  inhabitants  of  Venus  and  Mer- 
cury, if  inhabited ;  since  cosmic  matter  must  be  more  accumu- 
lated in  the  nearer  neighborhood  of  the  sun.  Thus  the  tem- 
perature on  those  planets  would  be  lower  than  their  proximity 
to  the  sun  would  lead  us  to  suppose.  On  the  same  principle, 
the  solar  emanations  at  Mars  or  Saturn  would  be  greater  than 
their  distances  from  the  sun  would  lead  us  to  suppose.  Who 
can  tell  how  far  these  adaptations  may  go  in  compensating  to 
other  planets  for  losses  due  to  different  distances  from  the  sun  ? 

We  have  seen  the  meteor  ignited  in  the  upper  air.  We 
have  seen  its  bright  streak  vanish  while  we  gazed.  The  little 
body  was  melted — it  was  vaporized.  While  passing  through 
the  space  measured  by  its  line,  it  changed  from  a  cold  stone 
to  shining  dust,  and  then  a  darkened  dust  left  floating  in  the 
upper  strata  of  the  atmosphere.  But  though  unseen,  the  me- 
teoric dust  still  exists.  It  now  belongs  to  the  earth.  It  will 
be  wafted  to  and  fro  by  the  winds ;  it  will  come  down,  after 
some  months,  and  contribute  some  new  material  to  the  earth. 
Some  of  these  atoms  will  fall  on  the  ocean ;  most  of  them 
will  fall  there ;  and  after  other  months  they  will  settle  to  the 
bottom  and  mingle  with  the  ooze  which  is  there  accumulating. 
You  will  remember  our  walk  under  the  sea  (Talk  X),  and  the 
comet-dust  which  we  found.  It  is  an  impressive  thought. 
This  black  particle  now  resting  through  an  eternity  on  the 
midnight-shrouded  ocean-bed,  shone  lately  in  a  star.  There 
are  greater  changes  of  fortune  than  any  suffered  by  us. 

The  point  which  we  have  reached  reveals  the  boundless 


GATHERING  WORLD  STUFF.  213 

space  around  us  well  stocked  with  material  particles.  They 
are  not  uniformly  distributed;  by  their  mutual  attractions 
they  are  gathered  into  swarms.  The  swarms  are  not  motion- 
less ;  they  are  drawn  toward  every  attracting  body  in  the  uni- 
verse. They  are  not  changeless;  by  degrees  each  swarm 
grows  as  long  as  it  has  a  separate  existence,  by  the  accession 
of  other  swarms.  As  these  swarms  sail  majestically  through 
the  ocean  of  immensity,  some  are  brought  under  the  control 
of  distant  suns,  and  start  on  long  journeys  to  pay  their  flying 
visits.  They  approach  now  as  comets.  If  they  are  induced 
to  circle  perpetually  about  given  suns,  they  finally  go  to 
pieces  again,  and  the  parts  are  either  drawn  to  their  central 
suns,  or  distributed  among  the  planets.  If  they  escape  from 
the  systems  entered,  they  steady  themselves  across  the  gulfs  of 
space  which  separate  systems,  and  in  the  progress  of  centuries, 
float  into  other  ports  and  new  excitements. 

But  some  of  these  swarms  remain  floating  in  the  depths  of 
extra-firmamental  space,  and  gather  to  themselves,  by  their 
increasing  power  of  attraction,  all  other  swarms  and  particles 
from  their  region  of  immensity.  They  become  Nebvlce.  They 
are  luminous  because  pounded  by  the  fall  of  other  swarms, 
and  lighted  by  the  collisions  of  their  internal  parts.  They 
are  composed  of  matters  solid,  liquid,  and  gaseous.  They 
rotate.  Poised  in  space,  the  impacts  of  gathering  matters 
have  started  them  on  their  axes  of  motion.  There  they  are 
before  our  eyes.  The  background  of  the  heavens  is  phos- 
phorescent with  the  glow  of  these  distant  fields  of  world-stuff. 
Each  is  a  living  picture  of  that  primordial  state  in  which  we 
fancy  the  matter  of  the  solar  system  existed  when  that  his- 
tory of  cooling  began  which  we  endeavored  to  trace  to  a 
starting  point. 


214  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 


NEBULAR   THEORY    OP   WORLD   ORIGIN. 

BEHOLD  the  matter  of  a  solar  system  in  the  form  of  a 
nebula.  Poised  in  the  midst  of  space,  it  tends  to  a  globular 
form ;  but  the  attraction  of  its  own  center  is  so  distant  as  to 
be  feebly  felt  at  the  remote  periphery  of  so  tenuous  a  mass. 
The  late  accessions  of  nebulous  stuff  have  left  superficial  irreg- 
ularities— like  those  in  the  clouds  which  float  in  our  atmos- 
phere. They  subside  with  comparative  slowness;  but  yet  they 
tend  to  disappear.  This  vast  empire  of  world-stuff  rotates, 
but  a  million  of  years  may  flee  away  before  one  revolution  is 
completed.  With  eternity  at  command  all  finite  intervals  of 
time  are  zero.  I  can  not  answer  the  question  whether  a  gas- 
eous constitution  pervaded  all  parts  of  this  nebula.  I  think 
it  probable  that  portions  of  the  included  space  were  filled  with 
gas.  I  think  such  portions  may  have  been  bounded  by  the 
sphere  on  which  the  elasticity  of  the  gas  was  equalized  by  oppos- 
ing attractions.  There  was  already  fire-mist — fine  liquid  par- 
ticles suspended  in  gases  or  poised  between  counter  attractions. 
There  were  probably  stones  and  concretions  of  iron  hanging 
suspended  through  the  mass.  It  is  not  at  all  supposable  that  the 
entire  space  within  the  periphery  of  the  nebula  was  occupied. 
There  may  have  been  spaces  hundreds  or  thousands  of  miles 
wide,  not  filled  with  any  thing  but  the  all-pervasive  ether — if 
that  exists.  I  do  not  conceive  a  continuous  medium  so  unim- 
aginably thin  as  would  result  from  the  expansion  of  the  mat- 
ter of  the  solar  system  uniformly  through  a  sphere  bounded 
by  the  orbit  of  Neptune. 

If  this  mass  is  heated,  it  radiates  heat  into  surrounding 
space,  and  the  heated  parts  contract.  If  the  parts  are  still 
gathering  themselves  nearer  to  the  distant  center  of  gravity,  the 
whole  mass  contracts.  If  the  time  ever  arrives  when  the 
parts  gathering  toward  the  center  of  gravity  are  balanced  by 
mutual  resistances,  or  by  reaction  of  heat,  then  further  loss 
of  heat  will  result  in  contraction  of  the  whole  mass.  In 
either  event,  the  mass  contracts.  If  a  rotating  body  contracts, 


THE  WHIRLING  FIRE  MIST.  215 

its  rate  of  rotation  is  accelerated.  This  is  one  of  the  neces- 
sary laws  of  matter.  A  rotating  sphere  of  tenuous  matter 
undergoes  some  flattening  at  the  poles ;  as  the  velocity  of  rota- 
tion increases,  the  polar  flattening  increases;  the  equatorial 
protuberance  increases.  The  earth  is  equatorially  protuberant 
because  it  rotates. 

When  a  body  rotates  on  its  axis,  the  parts  around  the 
equator  experience  a  tendency  to  fly  off,  which  is  greater  than 
such  tendency  on  other  parts  of  the  surface.  A  rapidly  rotat- 
ing grindstone  throws  off  the  water.  An  emery  wheel  rotating 
too  rapidly  for  its  strength  flies  asunder,  in  consequence  of 
excess  of  the  flying-off  or  centrifugal  tendency.  The  centrif- 
ugal tendency  is  stronger  than  the  cohesion  of  the  parts.  If 
the  earth  were  to  rotate  seventeen  times  as  rapidly  as  it  does, 
bodies  at  the  equator  would  have  no  weight.  In  the  rotating 
nebula  which  we  are  considering,  the  centrifugal  tendency  of 
the  equatorial  parts  diminishes  their  weight,  and  the  undimin- 
ished  weight  of  the  polar  parts  presses  the  equatorial  out 
in  a  bulge. 

Meantime  the  nebula  contracts  and  the  rate  of  rotation 
continues  to  be  accelerated.  What  must  result  under  this 
tendency  of  things?  Evidently  the  time  will  arrive  when 
parts  on  the  equator  will  have  acquired  a  tendency  to  fly  off 
just  equal  to  the  attraction  by  which  they  had  been  held  in 
their  places.  If  contraction  still  continues,  as  it  must  in  a 
cooling  mass,  the  peripheral  parts,  balanced  between  equal 
centrifugal  and  centripetal  forces,  will  not  move  either  toward 
the  center  or  from  the  center.  What  should  make  them? 
Those  parts  will  remain  where  they  are,  and  the  parts  within 
will  withdraw  from  the  equatorial  parts.  That  is,  a  ring  will 
be  disengaged — not  thrown  off.  The  ring  will  retain  the  rota- 
tion which  it  had,  and  the  residual  mass  will  continue  to  cool 
and  accelerate  its  rotation  within  the  ring. 

What  will  happen  to  the  ring?  Perhaps  you  have  seen 
the  ring  of  white  smoke  resulting  from  the  explosion  of  a  soap 
bubble  inflated  with  phosphureted  hydrogen ;  what  happened 
to  that?  It  floated  as  a  ring  till  external  disturbances  caused 


216  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

its  rupture,  when  the  smoke  became  a  simple  cloud.  The 
cosmic  ring  will  experience  the  same  fate.  This  nebula  is 
not  hanging  in  the  universe  alone.  All  sjsace  is  animated  by 
moving  masses  and  groups  of  masses.  Comets  are  darting  to 
and  fro.  Distant  suns  are  tugging  steadily,  even  if  feebly, 
on  the  parts  of  this  ring.  Somehow,  in  'the  course  of  ages, 
the  balance  of  the  ring  will  be  destroyed.  An  excess  of  mat- 
ter will  be  drawn  to  one  side ;  and,  as  a  consequence,  all  the 
matter  will  be  drawn  to  that  side.  Or,  perchance,  the  unequal 
attraction  may  set  up  a  wabbling  rotation  of  the  ring.  Then, 
by  the  laws  of  matter,  the  wabbling  will  increase  until  the 
ring  is  ruptured.  That  will  cause  all  the  matter  to  gather  to 
the  unbroken  side. 

Thus,  from  one  cause  or  another,  the  ring  of  nebulous 
matter  must  become  a  sphere  of  nebulous  matter.  Its  distance 
from  the  original  center  is  the  distance  of  the  ring.  This 
sphere  moves  in  an  orbit  occupying  nearly  the  place  of  the 
ring.  This  sphere  rotates  on  an  axis,  and  the  direction  of  the 
rotation  will  be  determined  largely  by  the  width  of  the  ring 
from  which  it  was  formed,  and  relative  velocities  of  the  outer 
and  inner  circumferences  of  the  ring.  In  this  place  I  can 
not  attempt  to  explain  this  matter.  Suffice  it  to  know  that 
in  most  cases,  the  direction  of  the  rotation  would  be  the  same 
as  the  direction  of  the  mass  in  its  orbit;  but  if  the  diameter 
of  the  orbit  is  relatively  very  great,  the  direction  of  rotation 
may  be  the  reverse  of  the  motion  in  the  orbit. 

This  resultant  spheroid  is  to  become  a  planet.  The  resi- 
dual mass  continues  its  history  as  begun.  By  and  by,  another 
ring  is  detached,  and  in  the  course  of  ages,  this  also  becomes 
a  spheroid  destined  to  become  another  planet.  Meantime,  as 
the  disengagement  of  a  new  ring  diminishes  the  mass  of  the 
central  body,  the  centripetal  force  exerted  on  the  first  planet 
is  diminished.  The  centrifugal  force  therefore  increases  its 
distance  from  the  common  center.  This  diminishes  its  angular 
velocity,  and  therefore  the  centrifugal  force,  and  thus  the 
centripetal  and  centrifugal  forces  become  equal  again — both 
diminished. 


THE  WHIRLING  FIRE-MIST.  217 

Thus  two  planetary  masses  come  into  existence.  By  repe- 
titions of  the  same  process,  a  complete  series  of  planetary 
masses  becomes  scattered  over  the  distance  between  the 
original  periphery  and  the  center ;  and  at  each  occasion  of 
planetary  birth,  all  the  older  planets  recede  a  certain  distance 
farther  from  the  center,  and  undergo  a  certain  retardation  in 
their  orbital  velocities.  The  different  planetary  masses,  how- 
ever, do  not  possess  equal  densities ;  they  are  not  composed  of 
such  ingredients  as  to  furnish,  on  cooling  to  a  given  temper- 
ature, the  same  proportion  of  solid,  liquid,  and  gaseous  con- 
stituents. Before  planet  making  began,  we  may  suppose  the 
heavier  constituents  of  the  general  mass  had  gravitated  to  the 
central  regions ;  while  the  lighter  constituents  remained 
nearer  the  periphery.  If  so,  the  first  planets  separated  would 
contain  more  of  the  substances  which,  at  temperatures  familiar 
to  us,  make  gases  and  water.  Similarly,  the  later  planets 
disengaged  would  acquire  a  larger  proportion  of  the  sub- 
stances which  form  solid  rocks.  In  the  case  of  the  earth  we 
may  suppose  the  greater  part  was  rock-making  material,  since 
the  earth's  specific  gravity  is  so  high ;  but  watery  stuff  in 
sufficient  amount  to  provide  oceans  and  rains,  went  off  with 
the  rock  material,  and  with  these,  the  lighter  stuff  for  an 
atmosphere.  But  in  the  case  of  Venus,  most  of  the  stuff  was 
rock-material,  if  not  the  whole  of  it ;  while  with  Mercury  it 
seems  probable  that  little  water-stuff  was  included.  In  the 
opposite  direction,  Saturn,  Uranus,  and  Neptune  must  have 
received  a  large  excess  of  water  and  atmospheric  stuff.  It  is 
rational  to  suppose  that  their  oceans  have  always  covered  the 
whole  land,  as  ours  does  more  than  half.  In  fact,  these  bodies 
must  be  composed  chiefly  of  water  and  atmosphere ;  as  their 
specific  gravities  are  low  as  water  and  cork. 

So,  in  the  history  of  our  system,  the  work  went  on  as 
long  as  the  conditions  existing  permitted  the  central  mass  to 
detach  rings.  Meanwhile,  the  planetary  masses  entered  sev- 
erally on  their  separate  careers.  Each  career  was,  in  effect, 
a  history  of  cooling.  They  did  not  proceed  with  equal  pace, 
since  some,  with  larger  mass  than  others,  had  more  heat  to 


218  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

radiate,  and  the  power  to  radiate  was  not  in  proportion  to  the 
mass  but  to  the  surface.  Hence,  some  of  the  older  planets 
are  less  advanced  than  the  earth,  because  so  much  larger ; 
while  Mars,  I  imagine,  is  more  advanced,  both  because  smaller 
in  mass  and  older.  Now,  during  the  habitable  stage  of 
the  earth,  the  sun  remains  the  residual  mass  of  the  ancient 
nebula. 

The  sun  is  a  relic  of  the  primordial  fire-mist.  The  sun  is 
historian  of  a  mighty  past.  He  is  more  to  us  than  a  source 
of  bodily  comfort.  He  has  shed  his  vivifying  warmth  on  all 
the  populations  which  have  appeared  and  disappeared  in  the 
history  of  terrestrial  life.  He  stimulates  to  growth  during 
the  human  age,  the  crops  which  supply  our  food,  and  affords 
the  warmth  which  yields  us  comfort  and  maintains  the  activ- 
ities of  the  natural  world.  But  the  sun  is  more  to  us  than 
this.  He  sustains  relations  to  our  intelligence.  He  proclaims 
and  exemplifies  our  material  origin.  He  responds  to  our 
anxious  inquiry  concerning  long  histories  which  were  enacted 
in  the  ages  unnumbered;  before  man  existed. 

The  history  of  each  planetary  mass  has  repeated  the 
history  of  the  general  mass,  as  far  as  physical  conditions  per- 
mitted. The  planetary  mass  was  a  fire-mist  possessing  r;ady 
mobility  of  pajts.  It  rotated,  cooled,  contracted,  and  under- 
went acceleration  of  rotation.  The  larger  masses  retained  the 
fire-mist  state  sufficiently  long  to  detach  several  rings.  From 
these  originated  the  satellites  of  the  larger  planets.  The 
earth  underwent  but  one  annulation,  and  had  then  assumed 
the  fluid  or  molten  state.  The  two  interior  planets,  with  a 
larger  proportion  of  fixed  constituents,  attained  a  fluid  state 
before  sufficient  contraction  had  been  experienced  to  lead  to 
the  evolution  of  a  single  satellite. 


THE  PRIMEVAL  STORM.  219 

XXXVIII.  THE  PRIMEVAL  STORM. 

ORIGIN  OF  THE  OCEAN. 

LET  us  DOW  attempt  to  trace  the  physical  history  of  that 
planetary  mass  which  was  destined  to  become  the  earth.  We 
contemplate  it  in  a  state  of  fire-mist.  Here  are  no  water,  no 
atmosphere,  no  rocks,  no  organic  forms.  In  this  fire-mist, 
however,  were  the  elements  of  all  the  forms  of  matter  which 
were  to  exist  in  or  upon  the  earth,  in  the  long  progress  of  its 
history.  Here  were  the  calcium  and  the  oxygen  and  the  car- 
bon which  molluscan  life  would  appropriate  for  its  shelly  cov- 
erings. Here  was  the  stuff  which,  long  ages  after,  was  des- 
tined to  swim  as  a  fish  in  the  wide  ocean.  Here  were  the 
ultimate  elements  which  were  to  grow  in  forests  or  wave  in 
tinted  sea- weeds.  Here  was  the  matter  which,  in  the  course 
of  time,  would  be  organized  in  human  bodies — the  solid  bones 
were  there,  the  graceful  contours  of  the  flesh,  and  the  crimson 
life-blood  destined  to  glow  in  the  maiden's  cheek.  Only  Infi- 
nite Mind  could  embody  in  one  plan,  things  so  contrasted  and 
so  remote  in  time. 

The  moon,  on  what  seems  to  me  the  most  probable  view, 
had  already  been  separated,  but  was  still  much  nearer  the 
earth  than  at  present,  and  performed  its  revolution  in  a  shorter 
period.  The  earth's  axial  rotation  was  correspondingly  more 
rapid.-  Earth  and  moon  mutually  exerted  powerful  tidal 
actions  (see  also  Talk  XX).  Each  changed  the  form  of  the 
other  from  the  simple  oblate  spheroid  shaped  by  rotation,  to  a 
prolate  modification  of  this.  That  is,  each  by  its  attraction 
drew  the  other  into  a  form  slightly  elongated.  The  elonga- 
tion was  a  "  deformative  tide"  or  "bodily  tide."  Of  course, 
the  moon  was  much  more  deformed  than  the  earth.  The  tidal 
elevation  on  the  moon,  at  its  present  distance,  is  one  hundred 
and  thirty-four  times  that  on  the  earth.  Those  tidal  inter- 
actions have  always  existed,  and  still  exist. 

I  can  not  affirm  that  the  matter  of  the  earth  was  now  all 
fire-mist  suspended  in  a  continuous  gas.  There  must  always 


220  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

have  been,  since  fire-mist  first  began  to  form,  a  tendency  of 
the  liquid  particles  to  coalesce,  and  this  tendency  would  in- 
crease with  the  progress  of  cooling.  A  time  would  arrive 
when  drops  thus  formed  would  begin  to  descend  by  gravity 
toward  the  center  of  the  fire-mist  sphere.  They  are  not  to  be 
conceived  as  dropping  with  accelerated  velocity,  like  bodies 
falling  through  space,  since  within  the  sphere,  the  central 
attraction  continually  diminishes  as  the  distance  from  the 
center  diminishes.  At  the  center  the  attraction  is  equal  in  all 
directions.  But  the  molten  liquid  began  finally  to  accumu- 
late at  the  center.  It  shaped  itself  in  a  globe  which  grew  as 
the  fiery  precipitation  continued.  In  the  course  of  time,  the 
greater  part  of  the  fire-mist  had  rained  down,  and  a  molten 
earth  stood  forth  in  space,  glowing  with  a  white  heat,  and 
enveloped  in  a  hot  and  heterogeneous  atmosphere  which  con- 
tained all  the  substances  vaporized  at  the  temperature  then 
existing. 

This  self-luminous  earth  was  a  sun  in  reference  to  the 
moon.  The  moon  had  already  advanced  to  a  stage  corre- 
sponding with  that  called  habitable,  and  the  light  afforded  its 
conceivable  inhabitants  was  twelve  times  as  intense  as  that  re- 
ceived from  the  sun — assuming  the  distances  the  same  as  at 
present.  The  earth  was  a  star,  and  had  long  been  a  star,  to 
the  inhabitants,  if  any,  of  remote  orbs.  Perhaps  they  had 
descried  it  with  their  instruments ;  perhaps  it  had  been  noted 
in  their  catalogues,  with  latitude  and  longitude  thus  and  so. 
The  sun  was  now  shedding  its  superfluous  light  and  heat  on  a 
planet  which  was  yet  itself  a  sun. 

The  molten  earth  continued  to  waste  its  heat.  The  ex- 
posed surface  materials,  as  fast  as  chilled,  sank  into  the  in- 
terior by  their  superior  density,  and  hotter  materials  rose  to 
the  surface.  There  was  a  circulation  between  the  surface  and 
interior.  This  prevented  any  extreme  difference  in  tempera- 
ture. But  some  greater  reduction  was  always  experienced  at 
the  surface.  It  was  at  the  surface,  therefore,  that  the  first 
solidification  took  place.  At  this  juncture,  the  sinking  of  the 
coolest  portions  ceased.  Rock-materials,  like  all  others  which 


THE  PRIMEVAL  STORM.  221 

crystallize  on  solidifying,  undergo  a  slight  enlargement  in  the 
act  of  becoming  solid.  A  crust,  therefore,  began  to  form  over 
the  liquid  planet.  Like  ice  on  the  lake,  it  floated.  If  you 
go  to  the  crater  of  Kil-au-e'-a,  in  Hawaii,  you  will  find  a  vast 
lake  of  molten  rock,  the  surface  of  which  has  frozen  into  a 
crust  like  that  which  formed  over  the  earth's  surface.  There 
is  no  mistake  in  the  opinion  that  the  cooling  crust  would 
float. 

The  tidal  protuberance  caused  by  the  moon  never  ceased. 
The  side  toward  the  moon  was  always  uplifted.  As  the  earth 
turned  on  its  axis,  a  different  part  of  the  terrestrial  surface 
was  raised  at  each  moment.  The  great  tidal  swell  swept  past 
every  point  of  the  surface  at  every  revolution  of  the  planet. 
Thus  the  forming  crust  was  alternately  uplifted  and  depressed. 
Much  fracturing  of  the  crust  must  have  resulted.  The  crush- 
ing and  grinding  of  the  fragments  displaced  them;  great 
lateral  pressures  tilted  them  on  edge  and  piled  them  up  in 
enormous  hummocks.  The  scene  must  have  been  analogous 
to  those  in  Baffin's  Bay  and  the  Arctic  Ocean,  of  which  ex- 
plorers bring  us  exciting  accounts.  The  surface  of  the  earth 
assumed  the  rugged  character  of  a  vast  "  floe." 

I  imagine  this  floe  was  still  luminous,  except  in  the  pro- 
jecting crags.  Over  this  still  glowing  terrestrial  surface,  sun- 
light was  still  shed.  Who  can  calculate  the  length  of  the 
aeons  which  passed  while  such  a  scene  of  desolation  reigned? 
It  was,  indeed,  destined  to  reach  its  end;  but  only  through 
the  transformation  of  an  age  of  terrific  violence.  All  the 
time,  the  process  of  cooling  went  forward.  While  the  white- 
hot  crust  subsided  to  a  red-hot  temperature,  the  atmosphere 
became  less  parched.  While  the  shadows  of  a  darkening  crust 
tipped  the  most  salient  crags,  the  upper  air  grew  continually 
freer  from  the  terrific  heat  which  had  swept  outward  from  the 
terrestrial  surface.  As  the  temperature  of  the  air  subsided, 
there  were  precipitations  of  various  substances  which  could 
maintain  their  gaseous  condition  no  longer.  At  length  it 
came  the  turn  of  water  to  begin  to  condense.  It  had  long, 
already  existed  as  an  invisible  gas.  Now,  with  an  upper  air 


222  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

temperature  passing  below  212°,  the  invisible  steam  began  to 
become  visible  vapor. 

This  was  a  grand  juncture  in  the  history  of  the  world.  I 
have  often  pictured  it.  I  have  often  wished  I  might  have  be- 
held the  scene.  I  think,  could  I  have  been  present,  I  should 
have  witnessed  something  like  this:  The  forming  vapor  in 
the  upper  air  reveals  its  presence  in  a  thin  and  gauzy  haze, 
like  that  which  overspread  the  sky  when  the  ashes  of  Kra- 
kat'-o-a  were  floated  round  the  world.  The  veil  grows  thicker 
from  age  to  age.  It  is  now  a  * '  cirrus  "  sheet  of  cloudy  vapor 
like  that  which  the  anti-trades  drive  up  from  our  south- 
western horizon.  The  contour  of  the  round  sun  is  blurred ; 
the  intensity  of  his  ancient  ray  is  softened.  Indeed,  his  light 
is  dimmed;  the  haze  is  becoming  a  cloud.  A  twilight  ap- 
proaches; the  shade  deepens.  The  world  is  enveloped  in  a 
cloudy  pall ;  the  lurid  light  of  the  decaying  fires  of  the  crust 
reddens  the  overarching  canopy.  The  sun  is  quenched ;  the 
world  hangs  in  shadow  which  forms  the  first  night  which 
ever  visited  its  surface.  "  In  the  beginning  "  there  was  "  light ;" 
now  "darkness  is  upon  the  face  of  the  deep,"  and  a  denser 
darkness  impends. 

The  burdened  clouds  drop  rain.  The  o'erburdened  clouds 
discharge  a  storm  of  rain.  The  drops  descend  into  the  lower 
and  heated  strata  of  the  atmosphere,  and  are  dissipated 
into  vapor  which  rises  to  the  clouds  to  be  again  condensed. 
Continual  rains  descend ;  but  the  hot  air  dries  them  up  and 
sends  them  back  to  the  bosom  of  the  clouds.  There  is  a  bat- 
tle in  mid-air  between  the  powers  of  water  marshaled  above, 
and  the  powers  of  heat  intrenched  behind  the  rocky  ramparts 
below.  I  think  of  the  battle  over  the  Catalaunian  plains, 
waged  at  night,  in  rn id-air  between  the  spirits  of  the  slain 
Romans  and  those  of  the  hordes  of  Attila.  But  the  powers 
of  water  are  destined  to  prevail.  The  forces  of  fire  are  per- 
petually carried  captive  with  returning  vapors,  and  retired  be- 
yond the  ranks  of  the  clouds. 

Meantime  the  equilibrium  of  the  electricities  is  disturbed. 
The  friction  of  ascending  vapors  and  descending  rains  develops 


THE  PRIMEVAL  STORM.  223 

electrical  phenomena — as  in  the  bosom  of  the  summer-cloud 
which  rising  vapors  swell  into  a  threatening  monster  that 
rears  its  "thunder-head"  above  our  western  horizon.  Here, 
in  this  storm  of  the  ages,  the  dazzling  glare  of  ten  thousand 
lightning  gleams  sheds  an  infernal  tinge  over  the  murky  world ; 
and  the  responsive  voices  of  ten  thousand  thunders  split  the 
welkin  with  their  detonations.  While  this  fury  and  chaos  reign, 
the  line  of  battle  sinks  to  the  hot  surface  of  the  earth,  and  all 
at  once  the  attacking  waters  are  volatilized  in  ten  thousand 
explosions,  which  rend  the  elements.  Imagination,  even, 
shrinks  from  the  contemplation  of  the  scene. 

But  we  must  brave  the  struggle  through ;  the  culmination 
of  the  great  seonic  storm  is  passed.  The  powers  of  fire  are 
vanquished ;  the  waters  gather  over  the  heated  crust.  They 
are  furious  with  effervescence  and  ebullition,  but  they  hold 
possession.  On  all  sides  rise  columns  of  steam  from  a  boiling 
ocean.  The  atmosphere,  once  so  arid,  is  now  soaked  with 
vapor.  The  skies  still  drip  with  rains,  but  the  gloom  is  not 
so  dense.  There  seems  to  be  a  day-break  on  the  scene.  The 
exhaustion  of  the  clouds  proceeds ;  and  now  behold,  it  is  dawn. 
A  new  cosmic  day  is  rising  on  the  flooded  world.  The  volume 
of  the  ocean  swells ;  it  has  no  shore.  The  clouds,  fed  by  the 
vapors  of  a  heated  ocean  are  not  dispersed ;  but  a  brightening 
glow  heralds  promises  of  a  new  age.  The  years  speed  on,  and 
the  alternations  of  night  and  day  are  discernible.  The  years 
speed  on,  and  expectation  waits  for  some  glorious  denoue- 
ment. Behold,  it  arrives.  The  sun  in  his  daily  circuit 
about  the  world  so  long  lost  to  him,  rose  one  day  in  the  east- 
ern sky,  and  a  broad  rift  in  the  clouds  let  in  a  golden  beam 
of  sunlight,  direct  upon  the  waters  which  enwrapped  the  earth. 

How  changed  the  scene  since  last  those  rays  fell  useless  on 
the  scorched  and  glowing  crust.  Then  the  self-luminous  earlh 
cast  no  shadow,  and  there  was  no  night.  Now,  one  hemi- 
sphere is  in  darkness  and  the  other  is  in  sunlight.  Now  for 
the  first  time,  as  the  earth  rolls  on  its  axis,  the  succession  of 
night  and  day  becomes  possible.  Now,  for  the  first  time,  the 
sun  becomes  "the  ruler  of  the  day"  and  the  moon  of  the 


224  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

night.  Do  not  say  this  is  all  a  dramatic  representation.  How 
else  could  the  forces  work?  It  is  reasoning,  not  imagination 
which  has  reproduced  the  incidents  of  the  primeval  storm. 
That  storm  was  a  real  chapter  in  the  childhood  history  of  the 
planet  which  is  our  home.  So  we  must  remember  it.  But, 
thanks  to  the  constitution  of  nature,  we  live  in  the  fortunate 
period  when,  on  another  member  of  our  planetary  family,  the 
secular  storm  is  raging.  From  our  safe  distance  we  hear  none 
of  the  turmoil  which  reigns  on  Jupiter ;  but  we  can  gaze  on 
the  exterior  of  the  cloudy  envelope,  and  we  can  believe  our- 
selves, with  Lockyer,  catching  glimpses,  at  times,  of  the  light- 
ning flashes  which  glare  within,  and  seem  to  shoot  their  darts 
quite  through  the  blanket  of  vapors.  A  specimen  world — still 
in  its  swaddling  clothes — held  back  in  development,  that  our 
human  intelligence  might  find  response  to  its  earnest  inquiries 
about  the  past — held  back,  like  the  living  rings  of  Saturn,  to 
serve  as  samples  of  unformed  worlds,  hung  up  to  illustrate  the 
divine  process  of  world  formation. 


XXXIX.    THE  \VAR  IN  THE  OCEAN. 

THE   EARLIEST   STRATA. 

A  SHORELESS  ocean  now  enwrapped  the  world.  It  was  not 
a  placid  summer  expanse  overhung  by  bright  skies  and  swarm- 
ing with  happy  sentient  creatures.  The  rains  which  supplied 
the  ocean  had  washed  from  the  atmosphere  certain  acid  gases—- 
especially sulphuric,  chlorhydric,  and  carbonic — and  these 
pervaded  the  water  now  resting  over  the  earth.  The  fire- 
formed  crust,  however,  on  which  the  ocean  rested,  was  com- 
posed chiefly  of  silicates  of  somewhat  complex  constitution, 
but  largely  silicates  of  alumina,  potash,  soda,  lime,  and  mag- 
nesia. Now,  when  the  hot  acid  waters  came  in  contact  with 
these  silicates,  certain  reactions  immediately  began.  The 
silicates  were  decomposed;  the  alkaline  bases,  potash,  lime, 
and  so  forth,  were  taken  up  by  the  free  acids,  forming  chlo- 
rides of  potassium,  calcium,  sodium,  magnesium;  as  also 
sulphates  and  carbonates  of  potash,  soda,  magnesia,  and  lime. 


THE  WAR  IN  THE  OCEAN.  225 

Now  some  of  these  resulting  compounds  were  soluble,  and 
remained  dissolved  in  the  sea-water.  Such  were  the  chlorides 
and  sulphates,  and  the  carbonates  of  potash  and  soda.  Thus 
the  water  of  the  primitive  ocean  became  charged  with 
sulphate  of  soda,  which  is  Glauber's  salt;  sulphate  of 
lime,  which  is  gypsum ;  sulphate  of  magnesia,  which  is 
Epsom  salts;  also  with  chloride  of  sodium,  which  is  common 
salt ;  and  the  other  chlorides,  which  are  the  bitter  impurities 
in  the  sea. 

But  others  of  the  resulting  compounds  were  but  little 
soluble,  and  were  therefore  precipitated  to  the  bottom;  what  were 
they?  Carbonate  of  lime  and  carbonate  of  magnesia.  The 
first  is  limestone,  and  the  second  is  generally  mixed  with  the 
first,  forming  dolomite.  That  is,  a  layer  of  calcareous  material 
was  spread  over  the  sea-bottom.  It  was  a  chemical  precipitate, 
not  a  sediment  in  the  geological  sense.  Two  other  constituents 
were  added  to  the  material  spread  over  the  bottom.  I  stated 
above  that  the  primitive  crust  contained  silica  and  alumina ; 
what  became  of  these  when  the  original  partners  had  to  sunder 
connections?  Potash,  soda,  lime,  magnesia  we  have  traced  to 
their  destinations ;  but  silica  and  alumina  are  left  outstanding. 
Now,  probably,  these  concluded  to  form  a  partnership  for 
themselves ;  and  so  silicate  of  alumina  resulted.  This  being 
insoluble,  must  have  fallen  to  the  bottom.  It  may  have 
mingled,  in  some  places,  with  the  calcareous  precipitates  and 
it  may  in  other  places  have  been  bedded  by  itself.  In  the 
latter  case,  beds  of  argillite  would  result.  With  the  silica  and 
alumina  some  potash  may  in  other  cases,  have  combined ;  and 
thus  would  be  formed  a  mineral  known  as  potash  feldspar ,  or 
common  feldspar.  If  soda  or  lime,  instead  of  potash,  united 
with  the  silica  and  alumina,  the  result  was  simply  another 
species  of  feldspar.  The  feldspars  are  very  abundant  in  the 
oldest  rocks. 

But  perhaps,  again,  some  of  the  outstanding  silica  and 
alumina  concluded  not  to  combine  together.  Then  the  alumina 
would  simply  remain  free  alumina,  to  mix  with  any  of  the 
other  compounds  produced,  or  form  by  itself  a  bed  of  pure 


226  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

clay;  and  the  silica  would,  in  a  similar  way,  mix  with  other 
substances  or  form  by  itself  beds  of  pure  quartz. 

If  these  views  are  correct,  it  appears  that  the  mineral  con- 
stituents of  sea-water  date  from  the  primeval  time.  The  table 
salt  so  familiar  to  our  senses  is  a  venerable  product.  The 
sodium  had  endured  the  heat  of  the  molten  globe  and  consoli- 
dated as  a  silicate  in  the  first  crust.  The  chlorine  had  drifted 
about,  a  constituent  of  the  heterogeneous  atmosphere,  until 
the  war  of  the  elements  came ;  when  it  was  dragged  down  as 
an  incident  of  the  conflict.  Here  it  found  occasion  for  un- 
wonted activity ;  and  all  over  the  world,  chlorine  atoms  busied 
themselves  in  soliciting  sodium  atoms,  to  gratify  a  newly  dis- 
covered liking,  and  create,  in  unlimited  abundance,  a  sub- 
stance destined  to  acquire  unlimited  usefulness.  So  our 
common  salt,  which  knows  so  well  how  to  grow  old  unchanged, 
is  employed  by  us  to  assist  other  substances  to  grow  old 
unchanged. 

We  may  inspect,  now,  the  oldest  rocks  accessible  to  inves- 
tigation, and  see  if  they  are  the  kinds  which  should  be 
expected,  according  to  the  above  reasoning.  Yes,  in  a  general 
way  they  are.  Feldspars  are  everywhere  disseminated  in  the 
bottom  rocks.  There  are  great  beds  of  crystalline  limestone, 
and  of  argillites.  There  are  micas,  hornblende,  and  augite, 
all  of  which,  like  the  feldspars,  are  essentially  silicates  of 
alumina  and  other  bases.  But  here,  also,  are  conglomerates, 
composed  of  rounded  or  angular  fragments  of  older  rocks. 
Here,  indeed,  are  vast  formations  of  quartzites,  but  they  are 
formed  of  grains,  instead  of  being  those  purely  vitreous  masses 
which  would  result  from  the  precipitation  of  free  silica.  But 
each  separate  grain  is  such  vitreous  quartz,  and  it  appears  as 
a  fragment  of  some  rock  in  which  the  whole  mass  was  purely 
vitreous.  At  some  time  then,  earlier  than  the  formation  of 
these  granular  quartzites  there  were  formed  quartzites  not  com- 
posed of  grains,  but  continuous  like  a  mass  of  glass.  We 
have  to  conclude  that  the  oldest  rocks  accessible  are  not  rem- 
nants of  the  primeval  precipitates.  This  is  the  conclusion 
pointed  out  also  by  the  presence  of  conglomerates. 


THE  WAR  IN  THE  OCEAN.  227 

Let  us  trace  further  the  necessary  succession  of  events. 
The  chemical  war  is  now  settled  by  treaty  of  peace  ;  but  the 
rains  of  a  geologic  spring-time  are  still  frequent  and  copious. 
The  tides  and  waves  stir  up  the  fine  particles  resting  on  the 
bottom,  and  these  float  off'  to  the  deeper  situations,  where 
they  subside  as  sediments — fragmerital  sediments.  This  con- 
sequence of  unequal  depth  in  different  parts  of  the  shallow 
ocean  is  augmented  in  course  of  time,  by  the  formation  of 
wrinkles  in  the  crust.  These  resulted,  as  explained  in  Talk 
XX,  from  the  lateral  pressure  due  to  the  contraction  of  the 
eartk  within  the  crust.  This  was  an  incident  of.  cooling. 
The  wrinkles  did  not,  at  first,  rise  above  the  surface  of  the  sea ; 
but  they  formed  bars  and  shallows,  while  between  them  were 
the  depths.  Over  these  bars  the  tides  and  waves  stirred  up 
sediments  which  settled  in  the  deeper  water  not  far  remote. 

I  find  no  improbability  in  the  supposition  that  plant  life 
was  now  in  existence.  The  fronds  of  fucoids  could  be  rooted 
on  bottoms  within  reach  of  the  aerating  agency  of  the  atmos- 
phere ;  and  though  full  sunlight  was  not  yet  revealed ;  there 
was  a  twilight  sufficient  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  hum- 
blest forms  of  vegetal  life.  Whence  this  life  originated, 
science  is  unable  to  declare.  Yesterday  there  was  no  life  yet, 
on  all  the  planet.  To-day  it  is  here — positive  organic  life. 
In  the  night  a  sower  came  and  unobserved,  strewed  the  beds 
of  ocean  with  germs  which  came  to  earth  as  a  free  gift ;  and 
now  the  world  possesses  a  new  capacity— a  new  starting 
point — a  new  potency.  From  this  datum,  a  limitless  field  of 
speculation  spreads  out,  which  many  a  thinker  has  explored — 
in  which  many  a  thinker  has  been  lost.  The  inductive  evi- 
dences supporting  this  deduction  are  found  in  the  beds  of 
graphite  included  in  the  older  rocks,  though  I  do  not  imagine 
these  to  have  been  formed  till  many  ages  after  the  first  advent 
of  marine  plants. 

The  time  arrived  when  some  of  the  ever-growing  wrinkles 
rose  dripping  above  the  ocean  level.  They  were  not,  to  any 
great  extent,  domes  and  ridges  of  granite  and  granitic  rocks. 
They  were  arches  of  the  primeval  fire-formed  crust.  The 


228  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

mineral  constituents  of  granitoid  rocks  had  indeed  been 
formed  as  already  stated — quartz,  feldspar,  mica  hornblende, 
augite  and  they  probably  overspread  these  upheavals — but  I 
believe  these  minerals  must  have  existed  under  different  as- 
pects, and  I  think  the  minerals  which  compose  the  granitoid 
rocks  have  resulted  from  metamorphism  of  plain  sediments, 
as  I  shall  explain.  We  can  not,  therefore,  look  upon  our  oldest 
"granite  domes"  as  examples  of  the  earliest  crust,  nor  of  the 
earliest  precipitated  beds.  They  are  later.  Let  us  see. 

There  were  long,  low  ridges  of  barren  rock  now  emergent. 
I  can  not  state  where  they  lay ;  but  it  seems  probable  they  oc- 
cupied nearly  the  places  of  later  ridges  which  were  to  rise  as 
the  germs  of  the  continents.  Old  ocean  now  seemed  envious 
of  his  loss,  for  he  immediately  began  pounding  and  devouring 
the  slender  land,  and  taking  it  back  into  his  possession.  The 
work  of  erosion  was  inaugurated,  from  which  old  ocean  has  never 
desisted  to  this  day.  Nothing  escaped  from  his  domain  with- 
out a  conflict ;  and  many  a  patch  of  land  and  many  a  conti- 
nent has  thus  been  reclaimed  for  his  possession,  as  we 
shall  see. 

I  wish  to  emphasize  here  a  doctrine  which  has  been  very 
generally  overlooked.  Ocean  sedimentation  has  been  carried 
on  only  around  the  continental  slopes.  The  products  of  ero- 
sion have  been  laid  down  in  waters  comparatively  shallow, 
and  not  in  the  distant  abysses  of  the  ocean.  The  deep  remote 
sea-bottom  remains  to  our  times,  with  only  a  shallow  covering 
over  the  primitive  crust.  In  our  walk  under  the  sea,  we 
found  no  continental  sediments  in  the  deep  sea.  We  found 
there  a  state  of  changelessness  and  stagnation.  We  found  no 
evidence  of  fragmental  rocks.  We  found,  on  the  contrary, 
in  the  abyssal  islands,  rocks  of  igneous  origin — samples  of  the 
old  fire-formed  crust,  as  I  suspect. 

The  accumulation  of  sediments  over  any  portion  of  the 
ocean's  bed  would  constitute  a  thickening  of  the  crust.  But 
the  thickness  of  the  crust  was  already  adjusted  to  the  intensity 
of  the  heat  within.  It  was  of  such  thickness  that  the  heat 
within  could  not  escape  with  rapidity  sufficient  to  melt  the 


THE  WAR  IN  THE  OCEAN  229 

lower  surface,  and  thin  the  crust.  It  was  of  such  thinness 
that  the  internal  heat  escaped  with  rapidity  sufficient  to  pre- 
vent a  lowering  of  the  temperature  of  the  different  zones  of 
crust,  and  thus  produce  a  thickening  of  the  crust.  But,  if 
by  sedimentation,  the  crust  were  made  thicker,  this  balance 
would  be  destroyed  ;  the  escape  of  internal  heat  would  fye  re- 
tarded, and  it  would  therefore,  re-fuse  the  inner  surface  of  the 
crust,  and  restore  the  thickness,  and  with  it,  the  balance  of 
actions.  Thus,  wherever  the  original  crust  has  been  supple- 
mented by  sediments,  more  or  less  of  the  original  crust  has 
been  lost  from  the  under  side.  Who  can  say  how  much  has 
been  lost?  Undoubtedly,  an  amount  approximating  the  entire 
thickness  of  the  overlying  sediments.  It  is  generally  admitted 
that  the  Eozoic  strata  are  50,000  feet  thick.  There  must 
have  been  consequently,  50,000  feet  of  the  primitive  crust 
melted  away.  This  leaves  crust-thickening  due  to  progressive 
cooling,  to  be  supplied  by  sediments  above  the  Eozoic.  If 
the  Eozoic  beds  extend  down  30  miles,  then  30  miles  of 
primitive  crust  are  lost.  If  that  crust  was  less  than  30  miles 
thick,  then  some  part  of  the  30  miles  melted  away  must  have 
been  sedimentary  rocks. 

I  wish  to  make  one  more  point  in  this  connection,  and 
that,  I  believe  is  new.  If  sediments  accumulated  only  along 
the  continental  slopes,  then  not  only  did  all  formations  grow 
finer  and  thinner  in  receding  from  the  shore  ;  but  they  must 
be  found  to  disappear  at  great  distances  from  the  shore — ex- 
cept in  shallow  water.  Thus,  we  are  not  at  liberty  to  suppose 
the  Eozoic  beds  extended  under  all  the  oceans,  so  as  to  be 
literally  universal.  Wherever  they  now  exist,  the  land  was 
then  not  far  distant.  Thus  also,  in  general,  it  should  result 
that  all  formations  grow  thinner  and  less  fragmental  as  they  pass 
under  newer  formations. 

So  it  appears  that  by  due  reflection,  it  becomes  possible  to 
reproduce  the  important  features  of  the  ocean's  primitive  his- 
tory. The  earliest  outcrops  of  sea-bottom  were  entirely  con- 
sumed by  erosion.  We  find  traces  of  those  lost  lands  in  the 
grains  of  vitreous  quartz,  which  must  have  been  a  product  of 


230  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

early  precipitation.  We  find  other  traces  in  the  conglom- 
erates embraced  in  the  old  Eozpic  rocks.  We  even  find  traces 
in  the  slaty  character  of  many  of  the  pebbles,  since  much 
alumina  and  silicate  of  alumina  must  have  been  liberated  in 
the  progress  of  the  chemical  conflict,  as  already  explained. 
So  when,  at  the  end  of  the  Eozoic  ^Eon,  vast  beds  were  up- 
raised which  stand  to  our  times,  they  were  not  the  first  land, 
but  only  the  first  land  which  has  survived  to  the  human  era. 


XL/.    THE   WORLD  \VITHOUT  A. 

REIGN   OF    INVERTEBRATES. 

WE  have  followed  the  train  of  events  down  to  a  time 
when  the  work  of  the  geologic  forces  had  become  settled  to 
the  tenor  which  was  to  be  maintained  through  all  the  later 
aeons.  Uplift,  erosion,  sedimentation  are  the  key-words  to  the 
physical  history  of  the  world ;  and  these  all  express  mere 
sequences  of  a  more  fundamental  action,  COOLING.  We  are 
now  contemplating  the  world  as  it  existed  during  the  seon 
designated  Eozoic.  I  think,  for  reasons  already  stated,  that 
even  then  some  areas  of  sea-bottom  had  been  upraised  to  serve 
as  sources  for  the  clearly  fragmental  materials  laid  down  to 
become  Eozoic  rocks.  Where  those  crumbling  lands  were 
located,  we  can  not  well  conjecture.  There  may  have  been 
clear,  sun-lighted  cliffs,  beaten  at  times  by  dripping  rains, 
corroded  by  breaking  waves — all  as  in  the  human  epoch.  The 
same  mineral  substances  resisting  the  agencies  of  destruction ; 
the  same  quality  of  sun-light,  the  same  breeze  blowing  up 
from  the  sea,  the  same  ceaseless  roar  of  the  battle  along  the 
beach.  But  it  was  a  reign  of  the  physical  forces  alone.  The 
wide  sea  was  without  a  tenant;  there  were  no  bleached  shells 
strewn  along  the  beach.  No  shrub  contended  with  the  surf 
for  the  possession  of  the  sandy  foothold ;  and  no  tree,  how- 
ever humble,  held  safer  possession  of  the  sparse  soil  gathered 
in  the  chinks  of  the  knotted  cliffs.  There  was  no  form  of 
living  creature  seeking  the  ends  of  its  being  over  all  the 


THE  WORLD  AVITHOUT  A  BACKBONE.          231 

stretch  of  the  herbless  land,  and  no  wing  of  bird  or  insect 
agitated  the  fervid  air.  It  was  in  the  progress  of  this  reign 
of  physical  forces  that  I  expressed  the  opinion  that  vegetal 
life  may  have  made  its  advent  in  the  sea. 

The  seons  of  the  earth's  infancy  rolled  on ;  the  first  low 
presages  of  coming  continents  had  been  ground  to  sediment ; 
the  only  upraised  examples  of  the  primitive  chemical  precipi- 
tates had  been  broken  up  and  returned  to  the  sea.  Ov^r  the 
ocean's  floor  was  accumulating  a  mud  which,  in  a  later  age, 
should  be  baked  to  granite  and  gneiss — those  granites  and 
gneisses  which  in  our  times,  have  become  forms  so  familiar. 
We  have  before  us  the  evidence  that  at  least  fifty  to  a  hun- 
dred thousand  feet  of  such  sediments  accumulated.  The  sea- 
bottom  bent  down  under  its  load.  The  downward  protuber- 
ance reached  into  an  intenser  heat  than  could  be  endured. 
Besides  that,  the  very  thickening  of  the  crust  permitted  the 
interior  heat  to  make  encroachments  upward,  as  already  ex- 
plained. The  water  which  saturated  the  strata  of  simple  frag- 
mental  sediments  became  intensely  heated  under  a  high  press- 
ure. Alkaline  substances  were  dissolved  by  the  heated  water, 
and  the  hot  alkaline  solution  acted  powerfully  on  the  rock- 
materials.  They  were  partly  dissolved — even  silica  was  dis- 
solved ;  they  were  partly  softened ;  they  were  brought  to  such 
a  state  that  the  atoms  were  free  to  arrange  themselves  accord- 
ing to  their  affinities  in  their  new  situation.  The  old  sub- 
stances were  therefore  made  over  into  minerals  which  did  not 
exist  in  the  sediments  before.  These  minerals  were  formed  in 
juxtaposition  to  each  other;  and  when,  in  a  later  age,  the 
temperature  subsided,  the  mineral  mixtures  which  constitute 
Eozoic  rocks  of  the  various  kinds  were  at  hand.  They  formed 
granites,  syenites,  diorites,  and  similar  rocks,  in  which  the 
metamorphosis  was  so  complete  that  the  lines  of  original  bed- 
ding were  obliterated.  They  formed  gneisses  and  schists  in 
which  the  metamorphism  was  less  complete.  Of  course,  if 
there  were  any  calcareous  remains  of  tenants  of  the  sea,  these 
were  completely  dissolved,  and  we  have  no  means  of  proving 
that  they  ever  existed. 


232  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

There  was  a  time  in  the  very  remote  past,  when  tidal 
action  on  the  earth  must  have  been  vastly  more  efficient  than 
at  present.  I  have  already  remarked  that  the  moon,  if  .dis- 
engaged from  the  earth,  as  we  argue,  was  once  near  enough  to 
produce  an  enormous  tidal  effect.  When  the  moon  was  but 
forty  thousand  miles  from  the  earth,  its  tidal  efficiency  was 
two  hundred  and  sixteen  times  as  great  as  now.  The  oceanic 
tide,  accordingly,  would  have  risen  six  hundred  feet  twice 
during  each  revolution  of  the  earth,  with  a  similar  subsidence 
in  the  interval.  We  can  hardly  conceive  the  effects  of  such 
an  occurrence.  Think  of  such  a  mountain  of  water  rolling 
in.  Think  of  the  collision  with  the  beach;  think  of  the  in- 
undation which  would  bury  the  beach  and  sweep  inland ; 
think  of  the  terrific  erosion  which  would  ensue ;  think  of  the 
same  flood  tearing  back  into  the  sea  to  repeat  its  invasion  in 
a  few  hours.  How  rapidly  the  land  must  have  disappeared ; 
how  coarse  the  fragments  hurled  into  the  sea,  and  how  remote 
their  distribution.  If  these  events  occurred  during  the  accu- 
mulation of  any  sediments  which  in  our  age  have  become 
rocks,  what  vast  beds  of  coHglomerates  must  there  be.  Do 
we  find  them  in  the  series  of  Eozoic  formations  ?  No.  There 
are  conglomerates,  but  not  more  bulky  or  coarse  than  in  most 
of  the  later  formations.  The  conjecture  was  expressed  by 
Professor  R.  S.  Ball  that  such  high  tides  had  occurred  during 
Palaeozoic  time ;  but  we  find  no  evidence  of  it — nor  even  of 
their  occurrence  during  Eozoic  time.  As  they  must  have  oc- 
curred, however,  we  may  place  them  in  an  seon  earlier  than 
that  which  witnessed  the  laying  down  of  any  sediments  which 
have  been  preserved  to  human  times. 

The  end  of  the  Eozoic  JEon  approached  at  last.  Life  had 
appeared  in  the  form  of  humble  sea-weeds;  and  life  had 
throbbed  into  conscious  being  in  the  forms  of  the  humble 
Eozoon  which  I  have  before  described.  I  can  not  admit  that 
no  other  forms  of  life  found  fitting  home  in  the  Eozoic  sea; 
but  no  demonstration  of  it  has  been  discovered.  We  know, 
however,  that  a  vast  thickness  of  rock-sediment  was  accumu- 
lated, and  that  now  very  considerable  areas  were  upraised  to 


THE  WORLD  WITHOUT  A  BACKBONE.         233 

constitute  the  beginnings  of  those  lands  destined  to  endure  to 
our  time.  Very  likely  the  upheaval  was  accomplished  through 
many  partial  upheavals  widely  separated  in  time.  But  we 
can  only  contemplate  the  total  result.  When  the  Eozoic 
.ZEon  was  ended,  and  the  Palaeozoic  ^Eon  begun,  there  existed 
on  the  American  side  of  the  world,  the  following  outcrops: 
1.  The  Great  Northern  Land,  lying  north  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence and  the  Great  Lakes,  stretching  in  one  direction  to  the 
coast  of  Labrador,  and  in  the  other,  over  the  region  between 
Hudson's  Bay  and  the  Mackenzie  River  to  the  Arctic  Ocean. 
This  sent  a  tongue  across  the  St.  Lawrence,  at  the  Thousand 
Islands,  and  extended  into  the  Adirondack  Highlands.  2. 
The  Seaboard  Land,  lying  east  of  the  present  Appalachians, 
and  reaching  on  the  north  to  New  England  and  on  the  south 
to  Alabama.  3.  The  Cordilleran  Land,  covering  .a  large  part 
of  the  region  west  of  the  Great  Plains— stretching  from  the 
crests  of  the  eastern  ranges  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  into 
California.  Of  its  northern  and  southern  extent  we  remain 
in  ignorance.  Possibly  this  Cordillerau  Land  was  more  of 
the  nature  of  an  archipelago  than  a  continent.  There  were 
smaller  exposures  of  land,  but  we  need  not  speak  of  them  par- 
ticularly. The  rocks  forming  these  continental  nuclei  are  all 
metamorphic.  Between  them  and  the  rocks  immediately  over- 
lying is  an  abrupt  contrast.  Why  the  process  of  metamor- 
phism  has  been  thus  limited  upward,  has  not  yet  been 
explained. 

These  lands  were  outstanding  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Palaeozoic  ^Eon.  All  else  was  sea.  I  am  quite  ready  to  be- 
lieve, however,  that  other  lands  existed,  since  consumed  by 
the  erosions  which  sought  to  lay  the  foundations  of  newer 
formations.  On  the  remoter  side  of  this  upheaval  was  an 
ocean  barren,  if  we  can  believe  it,  of  all  forms  of  animal  life. 
On  this  side  was  an  ocean  which  suddenly  teemed  with  the 
shapes  of  sensitive  creatures  already  of  high  rank,  and  diver- 
sified in  nature,  but  strange  and  archaic  in  their  structures 
and  aspects.  This  sudden  advent  of  hordes  of  creatures  of 
diversified  types  of  life  has  been  relied  on  as  evidence  that 

20 


234  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

the  Cambrian  fauna  did  not  originate  by  descent  from  any 
older  fauna.  But  you  will  easily  infer  that  I  take  another 
view  of  the  facts. 

Let  us  glance  over  these  populations.  There  are  first  in 
order  and  highest  of  all,  the  .Trilobites,  which  I  have  already 
described.  With  them,  in  the  very  dawn  of  this  jiEon  were 
Brachiopods — few  and  feeble,  but  in  Lingula  as  strong  and 
numerous  as  in  any  later  age.  Here  grew  also,  calcareous 
sponges — not  corals,  but  forerunners  of  corals — not  plants, 
though  rooted  and  fixed — poor,  humble  creatures  pinned  help- 
lessly to  the  sea-mud,  appointed  to  an  age  when  the  work  of 
nature  was  still  crude  and  unfinished,  yet  sensitive,  capable, 
undoubtedly,  of  suffering,  and  capable  of  enjoying  life.  Death, 
certainly,  was  there,  and  pain.  The  Trilobite,  in  the  very 
attitude  in  which  existence  ended,  reveals  conscious  suffering 
and  apprehension.  We  often  find  their  forms  closely  rolled 
together,  as  if  shrinking  from  the  felt  approach  of  death.  The 
little  trilobite,  in  his  final  repose,  proclaims  suffering  and  death 
in  the  world  before  "sin  entered." 

Glancing  down  to  the  next  epoch,  we  find  other  creatures. 
Ah,  this  glance  overleaps  a  million  years  or  more.  It  is  an 
easy  step  for  thought,  but  who  can  realize  the  slow  rolling 
years,  the  insensibly  changing  conditions  through  which  nature 
was  fitted  for  the  slight  step  in  progress  which  the  next  epoch 
reveals  ?  Here  are  trilobites  still,  and  brachiopods  and  sponges; 
and  here  are  those  huge  orthoceratites  of  which  I  spoke — ani- 
mated sticks  and  logs  suspended  in  the  water — long  and  slimy 
tentacles  projecting  at  the  open  end ;  fierce,  huge  eyes  look- 
ing out  for  some  other  creature  on  which  to  feed;  strong, 
lance-shaped  teeth  with  which  to  seize  and  tear  him.  From 
this  grim  presence  all  other  creatures  fled  away — save  those, 
alas,  which  nature  fixed  in  the  soil  and  doomed  to  serve  as 
food  for  these  monster  molluscs.  Here  were  meadows  of 
crinoidal  forms  which  have  already  been  described.  Raising 
their  sculptured  urns  on  gently  waving  stems,  they  spread 
their  jointed  arms  and  fingers  in  search  of  their  own  aliment, 
and  were  nipped  for  supper  by  some  ravaging  Orthoceras. 


THE  WOELD  WITHOUT  A  BACKBONE.         235 

Here  were  banks  of  polyp  corals — each  little  creature  planted 
in  his  cup  and  expanding  his  petal-like  tentacles  in  the  life- 
giving  sunlight.  Over  this  slope  of  animated  stone  crawled 
lazy  sea-snails  grazing  on  the  tentacled  growths  then  beginning 
a  work  of  coral-building  which  the  Florida  reefs  witness  still 
in  progress. 

The  cycles  of  Cambrian  and  Silurian  time  swept  on  and 
came  to  an  end.  The  history  of  life  showed  no  departure 
from  the  fundamental  types  with  which  that  history  was  in- 
augurated. There  were  new  species,  new  genera,  some  new 
families,  scarcely  a  new  order  or  class.  The  changes  were  so 
slow  that  the  world  seemed  finished,  and  finished  for  these 
happy  creatures  that  held  possession  of  it.  Yet  an  occasional 
visitor  from  another  world  would  have  noted  changes.  The 
Cordilleran  Land  had  sunken  step  by  step,  and  was  even  now 
reduced  to  an  archipelago.  The  Great  Northern  Land,  on 
the  contrary,  had  risen  step  by  step,  till  its  southern  limits 
extended  from  Albany  to  Syracuse  and  Buffalo,  and  thence 
to  Detroit,  Mackinac,  Milwaukee,  and  Chicago.  North  of 
this  line  lay  the  continental  surface.  A  great  island  stretched 
perhaps,  from  Sandusky  to  central  Kentucky.  These  lands 
were  the  empire  of  silence  and  desolation.  Populous  as  were 
the  waters,  here  was  no  motion  or  sound  of  animated  creature. 
Sparse,  dwarf  tree-growths  fringed  the  bleak  horizon,  but 
flower  and  fruit,  grass  and  herb,  were  yet  unknown.  The 
sea,  always  jealous  of  the  conquests  made  from  his  domain 
continued  to  growl  around  the  borders  of  the  land,  and  pur- 
sued industriously  the  work  of  reclamation  of  his  ancient 
slime.  The  wandering  winds  finding  no  fertile  isle  to  fan  or 
sail  to  waft,  confederated  with  the  destroying  waves  wreaked 
their  anger  on  the  crumbling  shores  and  howled  sullenly 
through  the  vistas  of  the  sparsely  wooded  plain. 


236  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

XL/I.    THE  DYNASTY  OF"  KISHKS. 

DEVONIAN   AND   CARBONIFEROUS   TIMES- 

WHEN  the  morning  of  the  Devonian  Age  dawned,  a  new 
form  was  seen  moving  in  the  populous  sea.  It  was  a  verte- 
brate form.  Without  a  bony  skeleton,  its  cartilaginous  frame- 
work and  general  plan  embodied  a  new  conception.  Among 
vertebrates  its  organization  was  decidedly  low;  but  it  was  not 
a  fish  in  any  ordinary  acceptation  of  the  term,  though  w"e 
shall  have  to  call  it  a  fish.  There  were  other  vertebrate  forms 
more  clearly  fish-like,  but  all  widely  separated  from  modern 
fishes.  One  could  easily  distinguish  three  types  of  these 
archaic  vertebrates.  They  are  known  among  us  as  E-las'-mo- 
brancJis,  Plac'-o-derms  and  Gan'-oids.  The  Elasmobranchs  are 
a  group  which  still  survives.  They  are  all  shark-like.  The 
kinds  which  lived  in  the  Devonian  were  true  sharks  (Sel'-a- 
choids)  of  the  peculiar  Ces-trac'-i-on  family,  the  best  known 
species  of  which  ranges  from  Japan  to  New  Zealand.  Cestrac- 
ion,  the  Port  Jackson  Shark,  has  spines  in  front  of  both  the 
dorsal  fins;  the  nostrils  unite  in  the  cavity  of  the  mouth,  and 
the  upper  lip  is  divided  into  seven  lobes.  The  teeth  along 
the  middle  of  the  mouth  are  small.  External  to  these  are 
large  flat  teeth  twice  as  broad  as  long,  arranged  in  oblique 
series  so  as  to  form  a  sort  of  tesselated  crushing  surface. 

Among  the  very  earliest  American  fishes  were  some  of 
these  spine-bearing  sharks.  The  spines  are  flattened,  two- 
edged  like  a  bayonet,  and  curved  as  if  one  had  belonged  to 
the  right  side  and  the  other  to  the  left.  The  external  surface 
was  covered  with  a  thin  coating  of  enamel,  sometimes  smooth, 
sometimes  ornamented.  These  spines  are  not  attached  by  a 
joint,  but  inserted  in  a  mass  of  cartilage  imbedded  in  the 
flesh.  They  were  perhaps  the  front  rays  of  the  pectoral  fins. 
Some  of  them  were  more  than  a  foot  in  length.  Being  two- 
edged  and  very  sharp,  they  must  have  been  very  powerful 
weapons,  offensive  or  defensive.  These  cestracionts  were 
numerous  during  the  Corniferous  period.  Their  smooth, 
brown  spines  are  very  often  found  in  the  Corniferous  lime- 


THE  DYNASTY  OF  FISHES.  237 

stone  of  New  York,  Canada,  Ohio,  and  Michigan.  If  you 
wish  the  name,  here  it  is:  " Mach<xr"-a-cari-ilius,  or  "Dag- 
ger-spine." 

Another  type  among  the  earliest  American  fishes  was 
(Rhyn'-cho-dus,  or  "  Beak- tooth  ")  a  form  related  to  the  Chi- 
mce'-ra,  which  also  resembles  sharks.  It  has,  however,  a  long, 
whip-like  tail ;  its  gill-slits  are  covered  by  a  flap  of  skin,  and 
the  skull  is  blended  with  the  jaws.  The  teeth  consist  of  mi- 
nute denticles  firmly  massed  together  into  large  tabular  plates 
which  are  inseparably  blended  with  the  jaws.  It  has  a  long 
and  powerful  spine  in  front  of  each  dorsal  fin.  The  only 
known  specimens  of  Rhyrt 'chodus  are  found  in  the  Cornifer- 
ous  Limestone  of  Ohio ;  but  it  must  have  had  a  much  wider 
range. 

Another  of  the  most  common  and  most  striking  fishes  of 
the  same  age  appears  to  have  been  a  relative  of  the  modern 
sturgeons — a  family  of  plated  Ganoids.  Our  American  geolo- 
gists have  almost  buried  it  under  a  pile  of  nomenclature, 
which  they  have  finished  in  the  following  shape :  Mac-ro-pet- 
al-icli'-thys  or  "Big-plated  fish."  These  fishes  were  of  large 
size.  The  cranium  was  composed  of  large  polygonal  plates, 
united  by  double  sutures  which  are  nearly  concealed  by  the 
tubercled  enameled  surface;  the  .tubercles  are  stellate;  the 
surface  is  ornamented  by  double  rows  of  pores  and  single 
thread  lines,  forming  a  pattern  which  does  not  correspond 
with  the  plates  below.  These  large,  geometrically  formed 
plates  often  attract  the  attention  of  quarrymen,  since  they 
are  sometimes  fifteen  inches  in  length. 

In  this  assemblage  of  oldest  American  fishes,  we  have  to 
mention  one  more.  This  is  a  ganoid  by  the  name  of  0-nych'- 
o-dus  or  "Hook-tooth."  It  was  of  large  size.  The  cranium 
was  composed  of  a  large  number  of  bony  plates  covered  with 
an  enameled  and  tubercled  surface.  The  borders  of  the  jaws 
were  set  with  a  row  of  conical,  acute,  more  or  less  recurved, 
teeth ;  and,  in  the  middle  of  the  lower  jaw  in  front,  was  a 
single  series  of  large,  curved,  conical  teeth,  presenting  a  strik- 
ing appearance,  and  often  found  imbedded  in  the  Corniferous 


238  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

Limestone.  The  body  of  the  fish  was  covered  with  rounded, 
overlapping,  bony  scales  nearly  circular  in  outline,  and  about 
an  inch  in  diameter. 

Please  notice  that  these  oldest  American  fishes,  dating 
from  the  Corniferous  Period,  are  Elasmobranchs  and  Ganoids. 
Of  the  former,  there  were  two  types,  Cestracionts  and  Chi- 
mseroids.  Of  the  latter,  also  two  types — related  to  sturgeons 
and  gar-pikes. 

I  must  now  inform  you  that  fish-like  creatures  began  exist- 
ence earlier  in  the  Old  World  than  in  the  New — at  least, 
that  is  the  opinion  long  entertained,  though  we  shall  probably 
have  to  abandon  it  when  our  information  is  more  complete. 
In  the  Upper  Ludlow  rocks  of  England,  which  form  the 
upper  part  of  the  Silurian,  is  a  "bone-bed"  composed  almost 
entirely  of  the  remains  of  fishes,  much  triturated  and  matted 
together.  From  this  bed  spines  of  Ori-chus  have  been 
obtained — a  fish  apparently  belonging  to  the  Cestraciont  type 
of  sharks.  In  the  Upper  Ludlow  have  been  found,  also,  por- 
tions of  Geph-al-as'-pis,  or  "Shield-head,"  having  the  head 
covered  by  a  broad  plate.  This  fish  was  intermediate  between 
Placoderms  and  Ganoids.  Still  lower  down  in  the  "Lower 
Ludlow,"  relics  of  a  similar  fish  called  Pter-as'-pis  or  "Wing- 
shield"  have  been  found.  So  we  say  the  oldest  fishes  of 
Great  Britain  lived  in  the  Silurian  Age.  We  know  also,  that 
very  similar  fishes  dwelt  contemporaneously  in  the  waters 
which  covered  Russia  and  Bohemia. 

I  have  next  to  inform  you  that  this  record  is  beaten  by 
America.  It  has  very  recently  been  announced  by  Professor 
Claypole  that  the  Corniferous  Period  was  not  the  earliest  date 
of  American  fishes.  He  finds  remains  of  fishes  in  the  lower 
and  upper  portions  of  the  Salina  Group  of  Pennsylvania. 
They  appear  to  be  related  to  Placoderms  and  Ganoids,  and  he 
has  bestowed  on  them  the  name  Pcd-ce-as'-pis  or  "Ancient 
Shield."  Still  lower  than  this  he  reports  some  fish  remains 
which  he  thinks  may  be  referred  to  the  genus  On-chus.  These 
are  at  the  bottom  of  the  Clinton  Group,  which  in  Pennsyl- 
vania is  fifteen  hundred  feet  below  the  Corniferous  Limestone, 


THE  DYNASTY  OF  FISHES.  239 

and  is  two  formations  lower   than   the  oldest  fish-remains  of 
Europe. 

We  have  now  stirred  up  all  the  old  bones — the  oldest 
bones  buried  on  our  planet — so  far  as  we  know.  But  I  do 
not  think  we  have  found  the  first  fishes  yet.  There  must  have 
been  some  forms  still  less  like  fishes  than  these.  Perhaps  if 
we  could  carry  the  line  back,  we  should  find  fish-like  creatures 
approximating  more  and  more  to  crustacean  creatures.  There 
was  Pter-y-go '-tus  in  the  Old  World  and  America,  and  Eu-rypr- 
te-rus  plentiful  in  America,  with  its  extended  pair  of  arms  re- 
minding one  forcibly  of  the  Pter-ich' '-thys  or  "Winged-fish" 
of  the  Old  Red  Sandstone.  There  was  Cephalaspis,  with  its 
broad  head-shield  exceedingly  similar  to  the  shield  of  the 
modern  King-crab  and  some  of  the  old  trilobites.  Other  in- 
timations exist  of  a  possible  near  relationship  between  these 
half  completed  vertebrates  and  the  dying-out  forms  of  Crusta- 
ceans. But  these  are  questions  which  must  be  left  to  the 
future. 

These  relations  enable  us  to  contemplate  with  new  interest, 
some  of  the  despised  fishes  which  live  in  our  times.  Our 
sturgeons,  gar-pikes,  and  sharks  are  the  sparse  representatives 
of  those  ancient  families  which  once  sustained  alone,  the  dig- 
nity of  the  vertebrate  type.  In  their  forms  was  first 
enshrined  the  conception  of  the  vertebrate  plan  of  structure 
which  was  destined  to  remain  on  the  earth  under  its  various 
modifications,  until  man,  the  thinking  and  ruling  vertebrate, 
should  arrive.  Of  these  ancient  families,  the  placoderm  was 
destined  to  disappear  with  the  Devonian,  and  without  a  suc- 
cessor. The  sturgeon-type  has  survived  in  a  slender  line  of 
representatives,  to  the  human  epoch.  The  cestraciont  sharks 
were  probably  differentiated  into  the  various  better  known 
families  of  modern  sharks,  but  continue  to  our  times,  to  exem- 
plify the  probable  nature  of  old  Onchus,  patriarch  of  sharks. 
The  bony  scaled  ganoids — more  fish-like  than  any  of  the 
others,  both  in  form  and  scaly  covering,  were  well  represented 
by  Onych'odus.  The  power  and  numbers  of  their  family  con- 
tinued to  increase  through  Carboniferous  and  Mesozoic  times; 


240  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

but  then  they  dwindled  away.  In  modern  times,  our  famil- 
iar bony-scaled  gar-pike  haunts  the  freshened  waters  of  river 
and  lake — the  poor  degenerate  descendant  of  ancestors  which 
once  dominated  over  the  world.  Venerable  relic  of  a  mighty 
empire!  Were  the  lineal  descendant  of  Menes  or  Nebuchad- 
nezzar to  stand  before  me,  the  antiquity  of  his  lineage  would 
inspire  my  interest  and  veneration,  but  it  would  be  as  yester- 
day compared  with  the  lineage  of  this  poor  gar-pike. 

Why  have  these  creatures  been  preserved  in  existence  so 
long?  The  march  of  organic  improvement  has  advanced  for 
thousands  upon  thousands  of  centuries,  and  left  them  far  in 
the  rear.  These  forms  are  misplaced  in  the  modern  world. 
They  constitute  an  anachronism,  which  is  either  an  absurdity, 
or  a  phenomenon  too  full  of  meaning  for  ordinary  compre- 
hension. The  gar-pike  destroys  our  game-fish  and  our  market- 
fish — as  he  ravaged  neighboring  kingdoms  while  he  ruled  an 
empire  of  his  own.  He  tangles  and  tears  the  nets  of  the 
fishermen,  who  visit  their  execrations  upon  him.  His  flesh  is 
unpalatable  for  food.  The  mud-loving  sturgeon,  less  destruc- 
tive in  his  nature,  brings  no  utility  into  the  modern  world. 
The  fierce  shark,  equally  unfit  for  food,  is  the  free-booter  of 
the  ocean.  Other  fishes  furnish  aliment  to  man.  They  came 
from  unknown  realms  to  meet  man  here,  and  serve  his  ends. 
But  these  archaic  types  linger  from  a  time  when  human  wants 
had  as  yet  no  existence,  when  human  food  was  not  demanded. 
They  were  never  intended  for  food,  since  they  made  food  of 
every  other  creature.  These  useless  and  destructive  beings 
are  out  of  joint  with  the  world  and  with  history.  Why  are 
they  here? 

Why  ?  They  come  to  import  ideas  into  the  modern  world. 
They  bring  down  to  us  living  illustrations  of  faunas  passed 
away.  The  plates  of  Cephalaspis  and  the  spines  of  Machcera- 
canthus  quarried  from  the  rock  might  pique  our  curiosity  and 
distress  us  by  their  mystery ;  but  they  would  not  instruct.  It 
was  intended  that  the  intelligence  of  the  being  which  always 
stood  as  the  finality  of  organic  improvement  should  grasp  the 
conception  of  the  world,  and  reproduce  the  grand  history  of 


THE  DYNASTY  OP  FISHES.  241 

departed  cycles.  Why?  It  was  an  act  of  beneficence  which 
saved  these  relics  of  ancient  dynasties  from  total  destruction. 
There  was  purpose,  not  accident,  in  the  failure  of  their  com- 
plete extinction,  and  the  assignment  of  the  world  exclusively 
to  more  modern  creatures.  These  are  precious  examples  pre- 
served in  a  museum.  These  are  caskets  filled  with  documents 
from  an  olden  time.  The  gar-pike  and  the  sturgeon  and  the 
shark  are  missionaries  from  the  past  to  the  present.  Hear 
them.  They  are  preaching  to  man's  intelligence.  They  are 
Unfolding  the  plans  of  Infinite  Wisdom.  "He  that  hath  ears 
to  hear,  let  him  hear." 


.  SCENES  KROM:  THE  COAL, 

HOW   THE   COAL   BEDS   WERE   FORMED. 

WHILE  the  grizzly  monsters  of  the  ancient  deep  were 
luxuriating  in  empire  and  blood,  the  premonitions  of  progress 
were  felt.  The  world  was  not  made  for  them,  but  only  an  age 
of  the  world.  Behold,  the  tide  bears  out  into  the  sea  a  float- 
ing log.  Its  exterior  is  marked  by  peculiar  and  significant 
impressions.  They  reveal  the  crest  of  a  dynasty  in  the 
vegetal  world.  They  are  the  seal  of  a  Sigttla'ria,  or  the  scars 
of  a  Lepidoden'dron.  It  has  floated  from  the  shore  of  a  low- 
lying  and  silent  continent.  The, re  is  a  meager  nursery  there 
where  nature  is  training  vegetation  for  thriftier  times.  In  this 
log  is  written  the  doom  of  the  old  Placoderms  which  had 
stirred  the  Devonian  mud  of  the  Ohio  sea-bottom.  It  is  a 
voice  crying  in  the  wilderness  of  waves,  Prepare  the  way  for 
new  land,  new  forms,  new  scenes,  and  new  history. 

It  was  the  beginning  of  the  Carboniferous  Age.  The 
tremors  incident  to  the  upthrow  of  a  new  belt  of  land  had 
strewn  the  submerged  continental  slope  with  the  sandy  ruins 
of  older  lands,  and  left  the  bed  to  mark  the  beginning  of  a 
new  system  of  strata.  We  know  these  hardened  sands  as 
Waverly  Sandstone  and  Marshall  Sandstone.  They  were  not 
outspread  in  a  day.  There  was  a  chapter  of  the  world's  organic 
history  enacted  while  these  formations  were  laid  down — 

21 


242  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

destined  to  be  torn  up  in  the  human  age,  to  serve  as  founda- 
tion stones  for  more  elegant  structures.  Through  another  age 
still,  the  impending  events,  heralded  by  the  floating  log,  were 
destined  to  be  delayed.  Meantime  the  waters  deepened,  and 
nature  seemed  to  have  forgotten  her  announcement.  She  had 
promised  land  and  green  forests;  she  gave  deep  sea  and  an 
expansion  of  the  empire  of  bony-scaled  ganoids.  She  gave 
larger  development  to  Brach'iopods ;  she  dallied  with  the 
chambered  shells,  and  gave  the  world  an  improved  type,  which 
we  have  named  Go-ni-a-ti'-tes.  She  lingered  lovingly  over  one 
of  her  ancient  conceptions  which  we  style  crinoidal.  She  had 
had  it  in  her  repertory  of  beautiful  thoughts  since  early  Cam- 
brian times — the  pretty  little  stone  lily.  She  had  taken  it  up 
in  every  age,  and  had  turned  off  some  improvements  and  some 
new  decorations.  But  now,  during  this  waiting  period,  she 
seems  to  have  returned  with  true  devotion  to  one  of  her  first 
ideas.  She  gave  great  attention  to  diversifying  it,  decorating 
it,  and  filling  the  sea  with  its  delicate  and  graceful  forms.  All 
for  the  Age — not  for  perpetuity ;  for  if,  while  we  stand  on 
this  verge  of  a  grand  epoch,  we  lift  the  veil  which  separates 
the  one  beyond,  we  find  the  crinoidal  conception  gradually 
falling  into  forgetfulness.  Larger  works  occupied  the  hands 
of  nature,  and  she  finally  set  apart  the  deep  sea  for  the  pres- 
ervation of  a  few  crinoidal  illustrations  for  man's  instruction, 
and  left  them  to  await  the  last  age — as  the  European  aurochs 
still  lingers  in  the  protected  forests  of  Lithuania,  and  the 
American  bison  will  continue  to  flourish  in  the  Yellowstone 
Park. 

This  dream  of  placid  waters  and  teeming  populations  was 
broken  by  a  jar.  Some  stay  of  the  long  pressed  crust  of 
the  earth  was  broken  by  the  accumulated  strain,  and  the  mud 
of  the  sea  was  stirred  from  its  prolonged  repose,  and  floated 
over  the  fields  where  stone-lilies  had  flourished,  generation  after 
generation.  Tenants  of  the  sea  alarmed,  retreated  to  deeper 
waters  or  perished  in  their  homes,  and  received  a  Pompeiian 
burial.  The  ocean-bottom  had  been  lifted  to  a  higher  level. 
The  scene  was  totally  changed.  The  summer  sea  became  a 


-    SCENES  FROM  THE  COAL  PERIOD.  243 

stormy  and  turbid  shore ;  and  a  broad  belt  was  given  to  the 
land.  The  torn  beach,  crumbling  before  the  waves,  contrib- 
uted coarse  rubble  for  the  foundations  of  new  land  .in  some 
future  age.  The  vegetation  promised  for  the  impending  epoch 
was  crowding  into  possession  of  the  ground.  It  flung  its  frag- 
ments into  the  deep  in  challenge  to  the  conflict  which  now 
sent  its  murmur  through  the  world.  These  chips  from  the 
by  standing  forest  were  buried  in  the  sands  which  loaded  the 
sea-bottom.  Every  thing  was  ready ;  the  curtain  was  about 
to  rise. 

Now  came  the  first  charge  in  the  conflict  destined  to  alter- 
nate during  an  age;  another  collapse  of  some  of  the  stays 
and  supports  of  the  rigid  crust.  The  land  uprose  by  another 
notch ;  the  bottom  of  the  sea  was  lifted  to  the  surface.  The 
great  "  Carboniferous  Conglomerate"  was  now  first  bathed  in 
air  and  sunlight.  The  continent  of  North  America  received 
an  annexation  of  territory  which  stretched  from  the  Seaboard 
Land  east  of  the  Appalachians,  to  the  Great  Plains.  The  new 
territory  included  all  the  regions  which  had  been  selected  as 
the  sites  of  the  capacious  coal  repositories,  for  the  use  of 
civilization.  It  was  not  a  dry  upland.  It  was  a  broad  and 
mighty  marsh.  Michigan  was  not  included  in  the  common 
continental  marsh,  but  stood  apart  for  a  special  destiny. 

Now,  over  all  this  breadth  of  bog  and  swale  sprang  tip 
vegetable  growths — trees  and -herbs,  ferns  and  rushes, — with 
the  all-engrossing  airs  of  those  who  come  to  hold  possession. 
Whence  these  forms?  Some,  as  I  said,  had  been  nursed  on 
the  older  and  contiguous  land,  and  now  entered  upon  a  new 
possession  because  it  was  fit.  Some  sprang  from  germs  fresh 
planted  by  some  unseen  hand.  What  mean  all  these  trans- 
formations? They  mean  progress.  They  mean  man.  They 
mean  civilization.  It  is  not  alone  change ;  it  is  improvement. 
This  luxuriant  crop  is  sustained  by  the  carbonic  acid  of  the 
atmosphere.  This,  as  is  generally  supposed,  was  in  excess. 
It  made  the  air  irrespirable ;  no  terrestrial  creature  could 
live.  But  terrestrial  animals  must  constitute  the  next  step  of 
progress.  The  march  of  improvement  had  now  gone  as  far 


244  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

as  possible  with  water-breathing  populations.  The  highest 
type  of  animals  had  been  reached  and  its  aquatic  class  had 
lived  a  Striking  career.  Nature  had  now  paused  for  the  puri- 
fication of  the  air  for  the  next  class.  The  plan  of  nature  was 
blocked  till  this  could  be  done. 

The  Power  which  had  called  matter  and  force  into  exist- 
ence, could  have  made  other  disposition  of  this  difficulty. 
The  carbonic  acid  could  have  been  combined  with  lime  and 
fixed  in  limestones.  It  could  have  been  banished  from  the 
planet.  But  carbon  is  precious.  It  is  the  basis  of  all  our 
combustion.  It  warms  and  blazes  in  coal  and  petroleum, 
peat  and  gas.  The  carbon  must  be  preserved  for  future  use. 
Man  would  discover  its  utilities,  though  the  age  then  passing 
had  no  use  for  it.  Man  was  yet  far  off;  but  man  was  antici- 
pated ;  man  was  involved  in  the  plans  of  the  world ;  man 
was  prophesied  in  these  preparations. 

So  vegetation  was  appointed  to  do  the  work  and  conserve 
the  material.  This  explains  the  presence  of  coal-making  trees 
upon  the  shores  of  the  preceding  epoch.  They  came  by  ap- 
pointment, they  were  to  fulfill  a  plan ;  they  stood  waiting  by 
the  border  of  a  domain  which  had  been  promised  them  for  a 
possession.  All  the  conditions  favored.  This  was  not  fortui- 
tous ;  it  was  a  preparation.  Unlimited  supplies  of  aliment 
pervaded  the  atmosphere.  The  marshy  situation  exhaled  the 
abundant  vapor  in  which  vegetation  delights.  The  earth  in 
its  comparative  newness,  retained  the  warmth  to  stimulate  at 
the  root.  So  tree-fern  and  herbaceous  fern,  calamite  and 
sigillaria,  begin  work.  Atom  by  atom,  they  selected  the  poi- 
son from  the  atmosphere,  and,  returning  the  oxygen,  fixed 
the  carbon  in  their  tissues.  Frond,  stem,  and  root  treasured 
up  the  fuel,  impelled  by  the  force  of  sunlight ;  every  pound  of 
vegetable  answered  to  a  given  amount  of  solar  force. 

The  work  was  begun.  Generations  of  plants  succeeding 
each  other,  fell  prostrate  at  last,  and  added  their  substance 
to  the  growing  bed  of  peat.  Standing  water  protected  the 
peat  from  decomposition.  Now  the  skies  again  were  lowering 
and  forebodings  of  change  trembled  through  the  continent. 


SCENES  FROM  THE  COAL  PERIOD.  245 

A  cataclysm  was  at  hand.  The  wide  expanse  of  marshy  land 
again  went  down.  Old  ocean,  which  had  roared  and  frothed 
in  rage  around  the  borders  of  the  territory  of  which  he  had 
been  dispossessed,  came  careering  back  to  his  old  haunts. 
He  brought  a  freight  of  mud  and  sand,  and  spread  it  over 
the  whole  vast  peat-bed — as  if  to  make  sure  of  no  renewal  of 
the  usurpation — like  those  who  sow  with  salt  the  sites  of 
ruined  cities,  to  make  the  ruin  a  ficality.  But  the  salt  sowed 
by  resentful  ocean  was  in  truth,  a  packing  away  of  something 
destined  to  be  saved,  not  forgotten.  It  was  part  of  a  benefi- 
cent plan,  and  the  anger  of  the  ocean  was  made  an  instru- 
ment for  its  accomplishment.  Beds  of  clay  and  sand  shut 
out  from  the  atmosphere  the  sheet  of  peaty  matter  which  was 
to  lie  and  consolidate  to  coal. 

The  dominion  of  the  ocean  was  temporary.  Apparent  re- 
gress was  in  truth  a  forward  movement.  Again  the  reeking 
sea-bottom  came  up  to  sunlight,  and  another  scene  of  bright 
verdure  was  spread  where  late,  old  ocean  had  celebrated  a 
jubilee.  It  looked  as  if  the  former  forest  had  undergone  a 
resurrection.  Here  stood  again  Lepidodendron  in  its  summer 
hat,  and  Sigillaria  and  the  other  established  forms.  But 
they  were  other  species ;  and  with  them  was  an  occasional 
new  comer  among  the  vegetable  types.  They  understood  for 
what  purpose  they  had  been  sent.  They  resumed  the  work 
of  selecting  the  impurity  from  the  air.  Already,  some  ad- 
venturous and  hardy  types  of  air-breathers  had  colonized  the 
jungle.  They  were  sluggish  and  slimy  creatures,  with  whom 
life  passed  slowly,  and  respiration  was  a  matter  of  compara- 
tive indifference.  Yet  they  enjoyed  existence.  They  grazed 
on  the  humble  herb ;  they  seized  the  dragon-fly,  alighted  to 
rest  his  wing ;  they  violated  the  home  retreats  of  the  passive 
snails.  They  crawled  out  and  sunned  themselves  on  the  ferny 
bank.  There  were  grosser  and  heavier  forms,  mail-clad  and 
vociferous  ;  haunting  the  bayou  ;  paddling  for  some  eligible 
fishing  station  ;  bellowing  like  oxen,  when  excited  in  pursuit ; 
stirring  up  the  mire  of  the  stagnant  bay ;  resting  their  chins 
on  the  reeking  bank  to  absorb  the  slanting  sun-warmth  of  the 


246  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

early  morning,  or  lolling  under  the  noonday  shade  of  some 
wide-spreading  and  umbrageous  Lepidodendron. 

At  the  entrance  of  the  bay  was  an  exposed  headland. 
From  this  the  high  beach  stretched  away  for  miles ;  and 
already  the  older  coal  deposits  were  exposed  along  the  eroded 
cliffs.  Here  the  waves  pounded  up  beds  of  sandstone,  shale, 
and  coal.  The  sands  were  deposited  along  the  beach  which 
faced  the  open  sea.  The  finer  and  lighter  materials  were 
floated  off  in  search  of  a  quieter  nook.  In  the  bay  they  found 
a  retreat  from  wind  and  waves,  and  there  laid  themselves 
down  in  a  mixture  of  comminuted  coal  and  clay.  In  a  later 
age,  the  deposit  was  a  bed  of  cannel  coal. 

Why  prolong  the  tale  ?  The  land  continued  to  oscillate  as 
long  as  the  purification  of  the  air  was  incomplete.  Again  and 
again,  the  forest  resumed  its  work,  and  bed  after  bed  was  stored 
away  beneath  ocean  sediments,  to  await  the  end.  When  the 
beneficent  work  had  been  accomplished,  the  tired  forces,  that 
had  endured  with  trembling  and  vibrations,  the  enormous 
strain  that  had  been  accumulating  under  the  prolonged  con- 
traction of  the  interior,  yielded  with  a  tremendous  collapse 
which  jarred  the  hemisphere.  Huge  folds  of  the  massive 
crust  uprose,  and  were  mashed  together  till  their  crests  pierced 
the  clouds.  This  was  the  birth  of  the  Appalachians.  This 
event  proclaimed  the  end  of  the  long  Palaeozoic  ^Eon.  Only 
the  stumps  of  those  folds  remain  to-day.  Though  crumbling, 
they  stand  as  monuments  of  the  mighty  throes  through  which 
the  world  was  prepared  for  man  and  civilization. 


XL/HI.  THE  R.E:PTILE 

MESOZOIC    EVENTS. 

THE  storm  is  cleared,  and  a  new  sky  overhangs  the  scene. 
We  seem  to  be  in  another  world.  We  glance  over  the  terri- 
tory lately  covered  by  luxuriant  coal-vegetation,  and  Cycads, 
and  Voltzias  now  hold  possession.  The  Cycads  are  palmetto- 
like  in  form,  fern-like  in  foliage,  and  pine-like  in  affinities ;  the 


THE  REPTILE  MONARCHIES.  247 

Voltzia  seems  a  progenitor  of  the  cypress.  No  Lepidodendron 
or  Sigillaria  raises  its  green  crown  in  all  the  wooded  landscape. 
The  reeking  marsh  has  disappeared,  and  an  undulating  up- 
land occupies  the  continent.  We  glance  over  the  place  of  the 
great  flat  which  had  stretched  from  New  England  to  Ala- 
bama, and  dark-wooded  ranges  of  mountains  frown  down  on 
us.  We  search  for  the  old  shore-line  which  had  set  the 
bounds  to  the  empire  of  the  sea,  and  it  is  removed.  Far 
southward  it  lies,  within  two  hundred  miles  of  the  Gulf-border 
of  the  human  epoch — so  much  more  of  the  ocean's  domain  has 
been  wrested  from  his  possession. 

We  range  over  this  new  bright  landscape.  All  the  old 
Palaeozoic  forms  of  animal  life  are  displaced.  Strange  tenants 
have  moved  in.  Instead  of  the  feeble,  lizard-shaped  Amphib- 
ians which  housed  themselves  in  a  hollow  stump,  we  find  great 
quadruped-like  Labyrin'thodonts  crawling  like  enormous  toads 
under  shelter  of  a  fringe  of  forest.  Their  ponderous  bulk  im- 
presses deep  foot-prints  in  the  sand  along  the  beach — four- toed 
and  hand-like — destined  to  remain  and  become  a  wonder,  of 
the  human  age.  (See  also  Talk  XXX.) 

But  the  Amphibians  have  yielded  empire  to  another 
dynasty.  Great  was  Archegosaurus,  but  Deinosaur  was  greater. 
An  extraordinary  and  amazing  figure  reveals  itself  stalking 
along  over  the  beach.  Evidently  this  monster,  tall,  scale- 
covered,  erect,  with  diminutive  head,  swollen  abdomen,  and 
massive,  trailing  tail,  is  a  representative  of  the  ruling  family. 
He  reveals  massiveness  without  elegance;  strength,  without 
grace.  He  marches  on  two  feet  and  leaves  a  foot-print  three- 
toed  like  that  of  a  bird.  His  jaws  are  armed  with  strong, 
sharp-edged,  and  pointed  teeth.  His  long  bones  are  hollow 
like  those  of  birds ;  the  pelvis,  as  well  as  the  foot,  is  bird-like ; 
the  sacrum  has  four  vetebrse  like  that  of  a  mammal ;  the 
neck-vertebrae  are  concavo-convex  a's  in  mammals,  and  his  lower 
jaw  has  lateral  motion  for  triturating  food,  as  in  the  ox. 
Shape  like  a  frog;  head,  tail,  and  scales  like  a  lizard;  feet 
like  a  bird ;  sacrum  like  a  mammal — what  shall  we  call  the 
creature  ? 


248  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

We  watch  him  through  his  sea-side  promenade,  and  fol- 
low him  to  the  dank  and  peaty  jungle  where  he  finds  his 
home.  We  see  him  browse  from  the  lower  tufts  of  foliage, 
and  grind  the  fibrous  twigs  with  the  jaw-movements  of  a  her- 
bivore, wearing  away  and  blunting  the  crowns  of  his  teeth. 
But  he  'meets  his  enemy — another  Deinosaur  of  bloodthirsty 
disposition,  a  flesh-eater,  and  armed  with  sharp  and  lacerating 
teeth.  Between  the  two  a  bitter  feud  exists,  and  they  have, 
at  former  times,  clenched  in  the  struggle  for  prowess.  The 
herbivore  recognizes  his  superior;  but  unwillingly  subject, 
fierce  auger  flashes  from  his  dark  eye,  and  with  a  defiant,  un- 
christian growl,  he  makes  room  for  the  contemptuous  and 
bloody  carnivore  to  pass. 

There  are  others  of  the  ruling  dynasty  which  disport 
themselves  in  the  waves ;  but  these  sea-saurians  (Enaliosaurs) 
are  only  the  forerunners  of  an  army  which  is  marching  down 
the  course  of  events,  and  may  be  expected  in  the  morning  of 
another  age.  There  are  also  others.  We  walk  in  the  twi- 
light of  a  Mesozoic  day,  along  the  reedy  shore  of  a  gloomy 
estuary,  and  the  crocodiles  are  crawling  out  on  the  land  for 
midnight  prowling.  A  broad  crocodilian  grin  reveals  an  array 
of  cruel,  conical  teeth  set  in  the  jaws ;  and  their  lazy  forms 
are  encased  in  a  jointed  bony  cuirass,  which  fits  them  for  de- 
fensive warfare.  When  Bel'odvn  moves  through  the  jungle, 
even  the  Deinosaur  is  startled  from  his  security. 

Within  the  limits  of  that  recess  of  the  continent  destined 
to  be  named  New  England,  is  a  deep  and  narrow  bay,  which 
projects  far  northward  from  the  future  shore  of  Long  Island 
Sound.  We  stand  upon  the  gneissic  slope  of  the  western 
shore,  and  survey  the  shining  expanse.  The  tide  is  out,  and 
the  smooth  sand  beach  is  laid  bare.  Over  its  surface  lie 
squirming  and  crawling  and  shrinking  from  exposure,  the 
sundry  forms  of  marine  life  which  the  last  tide  brought  up. 
This  is  the  opportunity  for  the  land-marauders.  Now  they 
hurry  to  the  scene  in  search  of  a  meal.  There,  most  conspic- 
uously, strides  the  tall  uncouth  Bron-to-zo'-um,  a  three-toed 
Deinosaur,  standing  fourteen  feet  high.  Its  foot  is  twenty- 


THE  REPTILE  MONARCHIES.  249 

four  inches  long.  At  times  it  drops  on  four  feet  to  seize  a 
dainty  morsel  of  a  crab,  and  leaves,  for  a  space,  the  foot-prints 
of  a  quadruped.  But  the  forward  feet  are  comparatively  di- 
minutive in  size.  In  the  distance,  Oto-zo'-um  paces  along  the 
beach — another  bipedal  Deinosaur,  but  with  four  toes  behind. 
With  foot  twenty  inches  in  length,  he  has  a  stride  of  three 
feet,  in  a  leisurely  gait.  Otozo'um  is  partaking  of  his  meal. 
Now  and  then  he  picks  up  a  stranded  fish.  Among  these 
gigantic  figures  more  humble  Deinosaurs  are  seen  mingling. 
One  of  these  leaves  a  foot-print  but  three  inches;  and  we 
notice  one  wee  pet  of  a  reptile  which  makes  a  track  but  a 
quarter  of  an  inch  in  length.  They  are  all  engaged  in  re- 
freshing themselves.  This  is  the  regular  symposium  of  the 
reptiles. 

Let  us  wait  here  for  the  tide  to  come  in.  It  is  coming ; 
and  announces  itself  by  its  roar.  The  tide  of  the  open  sea  is 
here  augmented  by  the  limits  of  the  narrowing  bay,  and  it 
swells  into  a  terror-striking  "bore."  The  Deinosaurs  and 
Labyrinthodons  hear  the  sound,  raise  higher  their  heads  in 
listening  attitudes,  and  scurry  away  to  their  retreats.  The 
tide  lingers  awhile,  dallying  with  the  sands,  and  making  love 
to  the  shore.  Now,  at  the  appointed  time,  it  presses  a  dewy 
parting  kiss  upon  the  beach  which  it  fondled  for  an  hour,  and 
retires.  Where  now,  are  the  foot-prints  of  those  gigantic  sau- 
rians?  Has  the  dallying  tide  erased  them?  No.  It  has 
covered  them  with  a  soft  film  of  fine  sand.  They  are  not  de- 
stroyed ;  they  are  preserved.  The  table  is  spread  again  with 
squirming  viands,  and  the  saurians  recognize  another  call  to 
refreshments.  Again  they  range  along  the  sand,  and  impress 
their  tracks  in  the  soft  surface.  Unconsciously,  these  crea- 
tures are  inscribing  their  autographs  on  the  pages  of  the 
world's  history.  The  tide  returns  and  spreads  its  conservative 
sands  again  over  the  well-inscribed  beaches.  And  so  the  tide 
rolls  in  and  out,  and  the  saurians  write  their  daily  chapters  of 
history.  By  and  by  the  tides  will  cease ;  this  bay  will  be  up- 
lifted beyond  their  reach ;  these  sands  will  become  a  solid 
brown  sandstone ;  quarrymen  will  ply  their  avocation  along 


250  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

the  slopes  where  Otozo'um  breakfasted ;  the  stony  slabs  will  be 
split  apart,  and  there  will  be  found,  in  all  their  details,  the 
same  footprints  made  in  this  opening  epoch  of  the  Middle 
Ages  of  the  continent's  history. 

So  the  years  rolled  on ;  and  meantime  the  vegetable  king- 
dom was  performing  its  part  in  the  drama  of  the  world.  There 
must  have  been  lowlands  where  water-loving  trees  stood  and 
bathed  their  feet — swamps,  where  fallen  foliage  and  worn-out 
tree  trunks  gathered  themselves  in  beds  of  peat  that  hardened 
into  coal.  One  of  those  tracts  is  a  few  miles  west  of  Rich- 
mond, Virginia;  and  two  others  are  in  the  Deep  River  and 
Dan  River  regions  of  North  Carolina.  Good  coal  was 
formed,  quite  similar  to  the  bituminuous  coal  of  the  Carbonif- 
erous Age. 

The  Triassic  Age  came  to  a  close  through  movements  of  a 
nature  similar  to  those  which  closed  the  Carboniferous,  but 
less  pronounced  in  violence.  The  sandy  beds  were  disturbed 
and  tilted,  all  the  way  from  Nova  Scotia  to  North  Carolina. 
The  strains  which  they  suffered  caused  great  fractures  which 
intersected  the  formation  in  straight  lines;  and  from  below 
came  molten  mineral  matter  which  filled  the  fissures.  The 
matter  was  of  a  basaltic  character,  and  in  places  where  it 
overflowed  on  an  extensive  scale,  it  assumed  a  columnar  struc- 
ture. We  note  especially  four  regions  of  Triassic  sandstones 
and  Triassic  eruptions :  Western  Nova  Scotia,  the  Connecti- 
cut Valley,  the  Palisade  region,  extending  through  New 
Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  four  others  in  Virginia,  and  two 
in  North  Carolina.  The  coarse  Potomac  marble  is  from  the 
lower  part  of  the  Trias. 

It  is  now  the  middle  part  of  the  Mesozoic  ./Eon.  We  are 
in  the  midst  of  the  reign  of  reptiles.  This  dynasty  is  even 
more  pronounced  than  was  the  reign  of  fishes.  From  the 
thought  of  a  reptile  we  shrink  away.  To  pronounce  a  man  a 
reptile  is  to  bury  him  beneath  contempt.  Think  of  the  rep- 
tiles which  we  know — crawling,  skulking,  lazy  creatures,  all — 
all  save  the  agile  lizard.  But  now,  in  this  reign  of  reptiles, 
we  find  an  enlargement  and  diversification  of  the  type  which 


THE  REPTILE  MONARCHIES.  251 

amazes  us;  it  even  awakens  our  admiration  and  interest. 
Down  by  the  sea-shore  Mesozoic  saurians  amuse  themselves  in 
the  surf.  The  Ich'-thy-o-saur,  with  thick  and  fish-like  form 
and  alligator  head,  pursues  the  fated  fish  into  the  deeper 
water,  guided  by  a  pair  of  enormous  eyes  which  gather  in  the 
feeble  light.  The  swan-like  neck  and  head  of  the  Ple'-si-o- 
saur  rises  above  the  surface,  while  the  short,  thick  body  is 
propelled  beneath  by  a  pair  of  long,  flat,  many-fingered  and 
many-jointed  paddles.  There  too,  winds  the  progenitor  of  the 
sea-serpent — a  real  sea-serpent,  whatever  fable  may  connect 
itself  with  the  modern  ore.  This  is  the  Mos'-a-saur,  attaining 
sometimes  a  length  of  eighty  feet.  The  body  is  covered  with 
small,  overlapping  bony  plates.  The  paddles  are  five-fingered 
and  resemble  those  of  whales. 

Contemporary  with  the  sea-saurians  are  those  of  the  estu- 
ary and  the  river.  Turtles  and  tortoises  sun  themselves  on 
the  naked  slopes.  Real  lizards  scamper  over  the  cliffs,  or 
skulk  among  the  debris  of  the  forest.  But  most  conspicuous 
of  all  move  the  gigantic  Deinosaurs.  Some  swim  in  the  sea; 
some  crawl  on  the  land;  some  scud  among  the  branches  of 
the  trees,  and  other  forms  standing  erect,  walk  in  reptilian 
majesty  among  their  humble  subjects. 

Here  is  the  Had'-ro-saur,  whose  province  is  limited  to  the 
Atlantic  border.  His  near  relative,  the  Ig-uan'-o-don,  holds 
some  provinces  in  the  Old  World.  These  are  vegetable  eaters. 
But  here  is  their  traditional  enemy  the  carnivore.  Lce'-laps 
disputes  supremacy  with  the  Hadrosaur,  as  in  the  Old  World, 
Megalosaur  rivals  Iguan'odon.  Strangest  of  all,  for  a  rep- 
tilian modification,  the  Pter'-o-saur  sails  over  our  heads  and 
shadows  us  with  his  broad  leathery  wing.  The  Pterosaur  is  a 
ground  disputed  between  reptiles  and  birds.  In  aspect,  bird- 
like,  he  is,  however,  essentially  a  saurian.  In  structure  he  is 
less  bird-like  than  the  Deinosaur. 

What  a  range  of  adaptations  is  this ;  sea,  river,  shore, 
upland,  forest,  jungle,  and  atmosphere — all  populated  by  fit 
modifications  of  a  single  type  of  vertebrates !  But  we  stand 
still  more  amazed.  Before  we  make  our  exit  from  this 


252  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

wonderful  mesozoic  time,  behold  a  real  bird  on  the  wing. 
Clothed  with  proper  feathers  and  constituted  a  bird,  it  is  yet 
reptilian.  Its  long  and  lizard-like  tail,  vertebrated  to  the  ex- 
tremity, is  furnished  with  proper  quills,  but  can  not  conceal 
its  kinship  with  the  reptiles.  It  comes  out  of  the  empire  of 
reptiles  and  brings  reminiscences  of  the  reptiles  with  it. 

A  higher  type  is  now  standing  at  the  threshold  of  being. 
A  knell  is  sounding  the  funeral  of  the  reptilian  dynasty.  The 
saurian  hordes  shrink  away  before  the  approach  of  a  superior 
being.  After  a  splendid  reign,  the  dynasty  of  reptiles  crum- 
bles to  the  ground,  and  we  know  it  only  from  the  history 
written  in  its  ruins. 


XL/IV.     MAMNtALIAN   R.ULE. 

OENOZOIC  TIMES. 

THE  striking  figures  which  appealed  to  our  wonder  during 
our  walk  through  the  Mesozoic  ^Eon,  diverted  attention  from 
some  very  humble  but  very  suggestive  creatures  which  man- 
aged to  elude  the  dangers  threatening  them  under  a  rule 
which  knew  only  cruelty  and  extermination.  These  creatures 
were  little  mammals.  Only  one  species  is  known  to  have  ex- 
isted in  America ;  and  we  are  indebted  to  Professor  Emmons 
for  bringing  to  light  its  remains  in  the  red  sandstone  of  North 
Carolina.  The  lower  jaw  is  armed  with  a  series  of  teeth 
somewhat  like  those  of  the  common  mole.  It  seems,  there- 
fore, to  have  been  insectivorous.  Its  nearest  relative  among 
living  mammals  is  the  Banded  Anteater  of  Australia,  a  small 
animal  with  a  fox-like  appearance.  We  call  it  Drom-a-the'- 
ri-um,  or  "  Running-beast."  It  is  singular  that  a  very  similar 
mammal  lived  in  the  same  age  in  the  Old  World.  Some  of  its 
remains  have  "been  found  at  Wiirtemberg,  and  others,  at 
Frome,  England.  Another  Triassic  mammal  has  recently 
been  described  by  Professor  Owen  from  South  Africa,  as  large 
as  a  gray  fox,  and  remarkably  specialized.  All  these  mam- 
mals are  most  distinctly  mammalian.  They  do  not  look  like 


MAMMALIAN  RULE.  253 

first  attempts  of  nature.  There  is  nothing  transitional  about 
them.  They  bring  with  them  no  reminiscences  of  reptiles, 
birds,  or  fishes.  If  they  had  descended  from  humbler  forms, 
it  must  have  been  by  many  generations ;  and  many  connect- 
ing links  must  be  totally  lost.  If  these  facts  were  an  iso- 
lated group,  we  mi^ht  think  these  little  mammals  abruptly 
ushered  into  being;  but  the  question  receives  light  from  so 
many  directions,  that  we  must  at  least  hesitate  to  accept 
that  view. 

Whatever  the  origin  of  these  little  fore-runners  of  a  noble 
type,  it  can  not  be  supposed  they  had  no  companions.  There 
must  have  been  hundreds,  if  not  thousands,  of  individuals  of 
each  of  these  species,  but  they  are  wholly  lost  to  knowledge. 
Where  we  are  sure  of  the  disappearance  of  so  many  remains, 
how  easy  to  believe  the  remains  of  different  creatures — of 
lower  mammals — have  also  disappeared. 

Mammals  once  in  existence,  we  are  compelled  to  believe 
that  they  continued  uninterruptedly  in  existence  until  our 
own  times.  We  can  not  admit  that  the  type  was  lost  to  the 
world,  and  then  the  same  identical  conception  reintroduced. 
But  where  did  mammals  live ;  where  did  they  perish  ;  where 
lie  their  bones  ?  Save  one  or  two  thin  bone  beds,  we  search 
in  vain  the  depth  and  breadth  of  Jurassic  and  Cretaceous 
strata  for  evidences  of  the  existence  of  mammals.  In  a  bone- 
bed  of  the  Stonesfield  Slate  of  the  English  Jurassic,  the  teeth 
and  jaws  of  several  species  of  mammals  have  been  found. 
These  are  mostly  near  relatives  of  the  Triassic  mammals.  In 
the  Middle  Purbeck  of  the  Upper  Jurassic,  occur  other  remains. 
We  know  in  Europe,  all  together,  not  much  over  fourteen 
species,  and  they  are  probably  all  marsupial ;  and  a  majority 
are  insectivores.  In  the  Jurassic  of  America,  Professor  Marsh 
has  brought  to  light  at  least  17  species ;  and  these  all  closely 
resemble  the  Old  World  remains.  In  all  the  vast  thickness  of 
the  Cretaceous  strata,  but  a  single  species  is  known,  and  of 
this  so  far  as  I  am  informed,  but  a  single  individual,  and  this 
very  imperfectly  preserved.  It  comes  from  Dakota,  and  was 
described  in  1884  by  Professor  Cope,  who  bestowed  on  it  the 


254  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

name  Men-is-co-es'-sus.  This  also,  is  similar  to  the  Old 
World  forms. 

Thus  all  the  intimations  show  that  while  the  mammalian 
type  had  already  made  great  advance  in  the  Mesozoic  ^Eon — 
almost  equally  advanced  at  the  beginning  and  end — it  was 
still  but  meagerly  developed.  Its  affinities,  even  to  the 
end  of  the  Mesozoic,  were  with  the  lower  division  of  mam- 
mals, the  Marsupials.  With  so  little  progress  between  the 
Triassic  and  the  end  of  the  Cretaceous,  we  are  reminded 
again,  that  a  long  interval  of  mammalian  existence  must 
have  passed,  before  the  Triassic  Dromaiheriwn  took  its  place  in 
the  world. 

With  the  opening  of  Csenozoic  time  all  is  changed.  The 
transition  reminds  us  of  that  from  the  Eozoic  to  the  Palae- 
ozoic. The  world  is  now  astir  with  mammalian  life;  and 
mammalian  life  has  already  attained  considerable  development 
in  rank  and  diversification  of  type.  When  was  this  advance 
effected?  Probably  during  the  Cretaceous.  Then  we  must 
ad  rait  that  the  sole  Cretaceous  mammal  known  fails  to  represent 
the  average  of  the  Cretaceous.  But  a  glance  over  the  assem- 
blage of  early  Tertiary  mammals  at  once  shows  them  stamped 
with  inferior  characteristics.  They  are  all  greatly  generalized — 
that  is,  some  characters  of  two,  three,  or  more  of  our  modern 
orders  are  blended  in  one  individual.  This  principle  is  ex- 
emplified in  the  early  representatives  of  every  group  of 
animals.  In  the  next  place,  they  possessed  small  brains.  If 
we  compare  one  of  them  with  its  nearest  relative  in  any  later 
age,  and  especially  with  a  modern  mammal,  the  disparity  in 
brain  is  striking.  Enlargement  of  brain  is  a  strong  mark  of 
advancement.  Another  circumstance  is  the  generally  penta- 
dactyl  character  of  these  mammals.  To  have  five  toes  on  each 
foot  may  be  thought  a  mark  of  superiority,  since  man  has 
five.  But  five  is  the  typical  or  fundamental  number.  This 
is  possessed  by  many  reptiles  and  by  .most  of  the  lowest  mam- 
mals. Advance  has  been  marked  by  modifications,  and  these 
as  a  fact,  have  involved,  in  most  cases,  a  reduction  in  the 
number  of  digits.  The  extremities  of  man  may,  therefore,  be 


MAMMALIAN  RULE.  255 

regarded  as  more  primitive  than  those  of  the  dog  with  four 
digits,  the  ox,  with  two  digits,  and  the  horse  with  one.  This 
at  least  is  the  prevailing  scientific  opinion ;  but  I  shall  venture 
presently,  to  contest  it.  Finally,  most  of  the  early  Tertiary 
mammals  were  plantigrade  ;  that  is,  they  walked  on  the 
whole  length  of  the  foot,  with  the  heel  on  the  ground ;  while 
most  mammals  walk  on  the  toes  with  the  heel  elevated — the 
"hock"  being  the  heel.  This  also  may  be  thought  a  mark 
of  superiority,  since  man  is  a  plantigrade ;  but  digitigrade 
walking  sustains  the  same  relation  as  pentadactylism,  to  pro- 
gressive advance. 

Is  man  then,  as  a  five-toed  plantigrade  lower  than  the 
horse,  ox,  and  dog,  which  are  digitigrade  with  fewer  toes  ? 
As  a  whole,  certainly  not,  since  superior  brain  alone  sets  him 
on  a  pinnacle  above  them.  Is  he  then  inferior  in  his  mem- 
bral  development  ?  No.  Development  looks  to  use,  function. 
Superior  development  implies  more  diversified  or  more  dex- 
trous, functions.  Man's  limbs  compared  with  any  others, 
show  human  superiority  in  a  marked  degree.  What  then,  is 
the  meaning  of  the  more  highly  differentiated  limbs  of  most 
of  the  mammals?  Are  we  restricted  to  saying  that  with  act- 
ually inferior  development,  they  possess  superior  structures, 
simply  become  more  highly  differentiated  structures?  That 
seems  to  be  the  prevailing  opinion  of  anatomists.  They 
tell  us  man's  limbs  retain  the  primitive  conformation,  and  they 
assume  that  this  is  an  inferior  conformation.  It  is  allowable 
to  take  the  opposite  view.  Differentiation  generally  takes  an 
upward  course ;  but  sometimes  it  takes  a  downward  course. 
We  know  a  multitude  of  cases  of  degenerative  differentiation. 
The  paddles  and  the  rudimentary  pelvis  of  the  whale  ;  the  flip- 
pers of  the  seal ;  the  rudimentary  hind  limbs  of  certain 
lizards ;  the  footless  condition  of  other  lizards  and  of  snakes ; 
the  eyeless  orbits  of  cavern  fishes,  are  generally  regarded  as 
examples  of  degeneration.  If  the  obsolescence  of  a  whole 
limb,  as  in  snakes,  is  a  retrogressive  differentiation,  then  why 
not  the  partial  obsolescence  of  a  limb,  as  in  four-toed  and  two- 
toed  mammals  ?  If  the  high  rank  of  the  equine  foot  is  signal- 


256  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

ized  by  the  possession  of  one  toe,  then  so  is  that  of  the  Protop- 
terus — which  is  absurd.  If  the  high  rank  of  the  bovine  foot 
is  shown  by  its  didactyl  structure,  then  so  is  that  of  the  Am- 
phi-u'ma — which  is  absurd.  I  hold  that  man's  limb  is  superior 
because  it  has  adhered  to  the  primitive  type ;  it  has  undergone  no 
degeneration.  Because  it  has  adhered  structurally  to  the  primi- 
tive type,  it  has  been  capable  of  its  wonderful  diversification 
of  function,  and  admirable  subserviency  to  the  ends  of  high 
intelligence. 

One  of  the  first  figures  to  greet  us  on  our  entering  Cseno- 
zoic  times  is  Co-ryph'-o-don,  one  of  the  best  examples  of  a  gen- 
eralized type.  As  large  as  a  Malayan  tapir,  with  similar  short 
legs,  it  had  no  other  characters  of  the  tapir,  or  of  other 
hoofed  quadrupeds  (Ungulates).  It  had  the  full  number  of 
the  different  sorts  of  teeth;  five  toes  on  each  foot;  nose  not 
adapted  for  work  as  in  the  tapir,  hog,  and  elephant ;  canine 
teeth  prominent  as  in  hogs  and  Carnivores.  The  feet  were 
somewhat  elephant-like,  and  the  head,  anterior  to  the  eyes, 
was  long,  as  in  the  horse,  and  the  whole  range  of  incisors  was 
horse-like.  Here,  also  was  Hy-rach'-y-us,  more  tapir-like,  with 
four  toes  in  front  and  three  behind.  Here  further,  were  two 
forms  more  related  to  the  horse,  but  only  as  large  as  a  fox — 
Eo-hip'-pm  (Dawn-horse)  and  O-ro-hip'-pus  (Mountain-horse). 
They  had  four  perfect  toes  in  front  and  three  behind ;  but  in 
spite  of  the  number  of  toes,  they  showed  their  affinities  with 
the  horse  in  several  particulars  of  structure  of  the  leg  and 
foot-bones  and  in  the  teeth. 

A  little  later,  the  forms  of  huge  and  curious  mammals 
crowd  on  our  view.  Til-lo-ihe'-ri-um  (Biting-beast)  had  enor- 
mous, long  incisors,  two  in  number,  much  like  the  beaver; 
but  it  was  not  a  real  Rodent,  or  gnawer.  Di-nocf-e-ras  (Fear- 
ful-horn) was  like  an  elephant  in  size.  It  had  short  legs  and 
perhaps  three  pairs  of  horns — one  on  the  snout,  one  on  the 
cheeks,  and  one  on  the  forehead.  These  must  have  given 
the  creature  a  grotesque  and  fierce  aspect.  Its  habits  appear 
to  have  been  like  those  of  the  Rhinoceros.  It  was  five  toed, 
like  Coryph'odon,  and  in  other  respects  was  related — widely 


MAMMALIAN  RULE.  257 

different  as  it  was  nevertheless.  The  Dinoc'eras  had  for  rela- 
tives U-in-ta-the'rium  (Beast  of  the  Uintas)  and  Ti-noc'e-ras 
(Avenging-horn).  This  must  have  been  the  ruling  family  of 
beasts*  during  the  Eocene,  or  earlier  Tertiary.  Only  a  few 
mammals  related  to  the  fox,  wolf,  cat,  bat,  and  squirrel  had 
yet  appeared  on  the  scene.  There  was  a  marked  tendency 
toward  the  tapir-type,  the  rhinoceros  type,  and  the  horse  type. 
Some  even -toed  Ungulates  came  at  last — Par-a-me' -ryx  (Rumi- 
nant-like) which  had  relations  to  camels  and  stags — and  were 
really  the  precursors  of  the  true  Ruminants  (Cud-chewers). 

In  the  Miocene  or  Middle  Tertiary,  the  tapir,  rhinoceros, 
and  horse  tendencies  continued.  The  Ruminant  tendency 
also  continued.  But  there  was  developed,  also,  a  tendency 
to  the  hog  and  the  sheep.  In  fact,  the  hog  and  sheep  were 
somewhat  united  in  O-re'-o-don  (Mixed-toothed),  for  which 
reason  Leidy  style  it  "  a  ruminating  hog."  Men'-o-dus  (strong- 
tooth)  was  intermediate  between  Dinoc'eras  and  Tapir. 
It  was  large  as  an  elephant.  Bron-to-the'-ri-um  (Thunder- 
beast)  was  of  similar  bulk,  and  had  a  pair  of  horns. 
Now  came,  also,  the  increase  of  Carnivores.  Ma-chcer-o-dus 
(Saber-tooth)  -was  as  large  as  a  lion,  with  fearful,  tearing 
canines.  Hy-cen'-o-don  (Hysena-tooth)  was  as  big  as  a  black 
bear.  Insectivores  existed,  and  now  appeared  the  earliest  of 
the  beavers. 

In  the  Pliocene  or  late  Tertiary,  we  witness  a  marked  ap- 
proximation to  modern  genera.  Now  the  equine  type  had 
become  almost  a  horse.  Here  were  camels,  rhinoceroses, 
tapirs.  Here  the  first  elephants  came  upon  the  scene,  though 
elephantine  characters  had  been  in  the  world  through  the 
whole  Tertiary.  Mastodons  were  perhaps  earlier.  The  lowest 
monkeys  (Lemurs)  had  existed  from  the  Eocene;  and  proper 
tailed  monkeys  from  the  Miocene.  But  in  all  this  teeming 
procession  of  mammals  we  notice  no  sign  of  man — save  only 
the  prophecy  of  man. 

22 


258  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 


XL/V.    ANTICIPATION    AND   RETROSPECT    IN 


COMPREHENSIVE   TYPES. 


WHAT  I  wish  now  to  set  forth  is  a  principle  of  very  pro- 
found significance.  It  is  a  general  truth  in  the  nature  of  the 
succession  of  organic  types;  and  I  will  endeavor  to  make  it 
plain  by  citing  some  of  the  striking  illustrations  of  it. 
From  the  working  of  this  principle,  it  results  that  the  crea- 
tures of  any  age  often  unite  in  themselves  some  characters  of 
a  group  actually  existing,  with  characters  of  a  group  not  yet 
in  existence.  This  is  anticipatwn.  Such  a  union  forms  a 
"prophetic  type,"  as  Agassiz  used  to  express  it.  It  is  also  a 
comprehensive  type.  Also,  from  the  working  of  this  principle, 
it  results  that  the  creatures  of  any  age  often  unite  in  them- 
selves some  characters  of  a  group  actually  existing,  with 
characters  of  a  group  which  was  dominant  in  a  former  age  — 
whether  still  existing  or  not.  Such  a  union  forms  a  retro- 
spective type.  This  is  also  comprehensive.  But  in  some  com- 
prehensive types  we  find  a  union  of  characters  none  of 
which  belong  to  any  fairly  circumscribed  existing  group. 
They  are  all  prophetic  or  anticipatory  of  groups  which  are 
destined  to  be  defined  in  the  future. 

Take  first,  the  early  Ganoids  for  a  good  example.  Their 
vertebrae  were  generally  concavo-convex.  This  is  a  reptilian 
character.  Nearly  all  reptiles,  living  and  extinct,  possess 
such  vertebrae,  while  all  typical  or  proper  fishes  possess  bi- 
concave vertebrae.  Now  the  early  Ganoids  were  not  reptiles, 
and  had  no  claim  to  concavo-convex  vertebrae.  There  had 
never  been  a  reptile  in  existence  when  these  Ganoids  first 
lived  —  when  0-nych!  -o-dus  of  Ohio,  for  instance,  flourished. 
If  we  may  attribute  to  the  ancient  Ganoids,  certain  other 
characters  which  belong  to  modern  Ganoids,  like  the  gar- 
pike,  we  should  say  they  possessed  an  opening  or  glottis  in 
the  back  part  of  the  mouth,  and  that  a  passage  existed  from 
this  to  the  air  bladder  ;  and  that  the  latter  organ  was  coarsely 


LIFE  PLANS.  259 

vesicular,  giving  a  rough  imitation  of  a  lung.  The  gar-pike 
too,  is  capable  of  a  vertical  motion  of  the  head;  that  is,  un- 
like all  other  modern  fishes,  it  has  a  neck,  and  can  raise  the 
head,  like  a  reptile.  The  ancient  ganoids  were  certainly  not 
less  reptilian  than  the  modern  ones.  The  possession  of  bony 
armor  is  also  a  reptilian  prerogative;  and  it  may  be  added, 
that  the  teeth  of  the  ancient  ganoids  were  truly  reptilian. 
Those  of  Onychodus  were  strikingly  so.  As  in  reptiles,  too, 
the  vertebral  column  continued  to  the  end  of  the  tail.  Thus 
the  ancient  Ganoids  possessed  several  reptilian  characters; 
while  in  general  form,  they  were  fish-like;  in  aquatic  respira- 
tion, in  many  rayed  fins,  in  cranial  and  general  skeletal  struc- 
ture they  were  fishes.  Thus  the  ancient  Ganoids,  and  to  a 
similar  extent,  the  modern  ones,  were  a  comprehensive  type. 
They  anticipated  reptiles ;  they  were  prophetic  of  reptiles. 
Later  the  ganoid  type  was  resolved.  The  ichthyic  characters 
were  retained  in  one  organism,  and  the  reptilian  were  gathered 
together  in  a  different  organism.  Now,  we  can  not  avoid 
feeling  interest  in  the  question:  How  did  it  occur  that  an 
animal  on  the  whole  a  fish,  should  incorporate  in  its  structure, 
features  of  a  class  which  was  yet  far  in  the  future?  And 
what  was  the  purpose  of  such  a  combination  ?  I  will  try  to 
express  my  views  on  these  questions  when  I  come  to  a  Talk 
on  the  method  of  creation. 

The  Amphibians  are  a  comprehensive  type.  They  are 
comprehensive  as  a  whole — as  a  class-conception ;  and  within 
the  class  are  subordinate  or  ordinal  types  which  are  specially 
comprehensive.  Structurally  they  partake  of  the  natures  of 
fishes  and  of  reptiles.  They  are  fish-like  in  branchial  respir- 
ation during  early  life.  They  are  fish-like  in  the  possession 
of  bi-concave  vertebrae;  in  having  two  occipital  condyls,  and 
in  other  less  conspicuous  characters  of  the  skull ;  in  the  organs 
which  serve  as  kidneys;  and  among  Batrachians  (frog-like) 
in  the  double  septum  which  divides  the  orbits — which  is  a 
ganoid  character.  They  are  reptilian  in  breathing  air  in  adult 
life ;  in  the  possession  of  appendages  for  locomotion  on  land, 
and  in  the  undivided  ventricle  of  the  heart.  The  nervous 


260  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

system  is  intermediate  between  fishes  and  reptiles.  The  ex- 
tinct Labyrinthodont,  while  possessing  many  distinct  batra- 
chian  affinities,  was  reptilian  in  its  crocodile-like  skull,  and 
the  protective  bony  plates  upon  the  thorax  and  flanks.  In 
the  teeth  is  found,  however,  the  peculiar  labyrinthine  struc- 
ture seen  in  some  Placoderm  fishes;  and  the  sculptured  plates 
of  the  Ganocephala  furnish  a  resemblance  to  bony  scaled  Gan- 
oids. The  structure  of  Amphibians  is  on  the  whole,  so  rep- 
tilian that  they  were,  for  many  years,  merged  in  the  reptile- 
class.  Now  Amphibians  existed,  as  far  as  we  know,  before 
the  reptile-type  had  been  introduced.  All  their  reptilian 
characters  therefore,  were  prophetic  of  a  class  which  was  yet 
non-existent.  On  the  contrary,  they  appeared  when  the  reign 
of  fishes  was  passing  away.  All  their  ichthyic  characters, 
therefore,  were  retrospective. 

Take  next,  the  wide-ranging  class  of  Reptiles.  During  the 
age  of  its  dominance,  various  ordinal  divisions  exemplified 
various  relations  to  the  future  and  the  past.  While  the 
concavo-convex  vertebra  was  proper  to  reptiles,  the  sea-saurians 
had  bi-concave  vertebrae — a  reminiscence  of  fishes.  Other 
reptiles  had  the  teeth  soldered  to  the  jaws  as  in  fishes.  Some  rep- 
tiles with  socketed  teeth,  however,  had  bi-concave  vertebrae.  The 
Ichthyosaurs,  with  fish-like  vertebrae  and  jaws,  had  crocodilian 
teeth  and  whale-like  paddles.  It  looked  forward  toward  the  mam- 
malian type.  Some  of  the  Deinosaurs,  also,  were  prophetic 
of  land-mammals  in  their  short,  compact  bodies,  while  their 
bi  pedal  attitude  anticipated  both  mammals  and  birds.  A  more 
explicit  anticipation  of  birds  was  revealed  in  the  composition 
of  the  digits  and  the  structures  of  the  tarsus  and  pelvis.  The 
Pterosaurs  were  prophetic  of  bats  in  their  leathery  wings  sup- 
ported by  elongated  digits.  They  foreshadowed  birds,  not  alone 
in  the  flying  function,  but  in  their  bird-like  scapula,  coracoid, 
and  other  structures.  In  one  genus  the  tips  of  the  mandibles 
were  without  teeth  ;  and  in  the  American  Pterosaurs,  the  mandi- 
bles were  completely  destitute  of  teeth,  while  the  tail  also,  is  re- 
duced to  a  few  vertebrae,  and  the  head  is  distinctly  bird-like. 

The  gradation  of  reptiles  towards  birds  brings  us  to  facts 


LIFE  PLANS.  261 

still  more  remarkable.  In  the  Jurassic  slates  of  Solenhofen 
in  Bavaria,  which  have  yielded  specimens  of  Pterodactyls  re- 
taining the  impression  of  the  leathery  wing,  have  been  found, 
also,  remains  of  a  bird  which  had  a  long  vertebrated  tail,  like 
a  lizard,  with  a  pair  of  quills  standing  out  from  each  vertebra. 
It  had  also,  saurian  teeth  inserted  in  sockets.  It  had  a  true 
bird-foot,  except  that  the  metacarpals  were  separate.  This 
wonderful  compound  of  bird  and  reptile,  after  causing  much 
discussion,  was  finally  assigned  a  place  among  birds  and  named 
Ar-chce-op'-ter-yx  or  "  old-flyer."  Very  recently,  however,  other 
specimens  have  been  found,  and  Carl  Vogt  of  Geneva,  after 
careful  examination,  declares  that  the  creature  was  a  feathered 
lizard,  and  not  a  bird.  There  are  two  conical  teeth  in  the 
upper  jaw  ;  eight  neck- vertebrae,  with  five  pairs  of  ribs  directed 
backwards ;  ten  dorsal  vertebrae  without  spiuous  processes,  and 
supporting  ribs  without  uncinate  processes ;  five  sternal  ribs 
and  very  minute  sternum.  The  fore-limb,  he  maintains,  is 
not  a  proper  wing,  and  there  are  three  digits  resembling  those 
of  a  clawed  lizard ;  the  feathers  are  attached  to  the  side  of 
the  arm,  hand,  body,  legs,  and  tail.  If  the  feathers  had  not 
been  preserved,  no  one  would  have  thought  this  Old-flyer  a 
bird,  or  capable  of  flight.  Now  what  can  we  say  of  a  crea- 
ture having  the  bird  and  reptile  so  mixed  that  the  best  judges 
are  unable  to  decide  whether  it  is  one  or  the  other  ?  We  can 
pronounce  it,  at  least,  a  comprehensive  type,  and  receive  it 
as  throwing  some  light  on  the  method  of  organic  history. 

The  Cretaceous  Age  in  America  produced  still  other  mon- 
grel forms,  which  have  been  published  to  the  world  by  Pro- 
fessor Marsh.  These  seem  to  lean  unmistakably  toward  the 
side  of  birds;  but  they  possessed  saurian  teeth,  and  are  known 
as  O-dont-or'-ni-thes  or  ''Toothed-birds."  There  are  two  genera. 
leh-thy-or'-nis  or  "Fish-bird,"  had  strong  wings,  bi-concave  (fish- 
like)  vertebrae,  and  teeth  inserted  in  sockets.  Hes-per-or'-nis 
or  "Western-bird"  had  feeble  wings,  and  teeth  inserted  in 
grooves  along  the  crests  of  the  jaws. 

From  such  examples  as  have  been  cited,  it  will  be  under- 
stood that  the  principle  of  comprehensive  types  results  in 


262  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

gradational  relations.  That  is,  organic  forms,  recent  or  fossil, 
may  be  arranged  in  series  according  to  structural  relationships. 
The  forms  more  or  less  bird-like,  for  instance,  may  be  ranged 
in  a  column  beginning  with  most  highly  developed  birds,  and 
ending  with  characteristic  saurians.  We  find,  indeed,  two 
series,  and  may  arrange  them  as  follows: 

I.    FROM  RUNNING-BIRDS  BACK  TO  REPTILES. 

1.  Struthious  Birds,  ostrich-like,  feeble  wings,  runners. 

2.  Brontozo'iim,  bipedal,  three  toed,  with  phalanges  bird-like. 

3.  Laosau'rus,  bird-like  in  head,  ischiac  and  post-pubic  bones  and 

toes. 

4.  Compsog'nathus,  bird-like  in  head,  consolidated  astragalus  and 

tibia. 

5.  Anomce'pus,  four  toes  before,  three  bird-like  toes  behind. 

6.  Hadrosau'rus,  weak  fore-legs,  attitude  bipedal. 

7.  Rhynchosau'rus,  saurian  with  toothless  mandibles,  bipedal. 

8.  Iguan'odon,  tips  of  premaxillaries  toothless,  obliquely  bipedal. 

II.    FROM  CARINATE  BIRDS  BACK  TO  REPTILES. 

1.  Carinate  Birds,  sternum  keeled,  flying  birds. 

2.  Hesperor'nis,  with  poor  wings,  teeth  in  grooves. 

3.  Ichthyor'nis,   with   good  wings,  socketed  teeth,  biconcave  ver- 

tebrae. 

4.  Archseop'teryx,  bird  or  lizard,  tail  long,  teeth  socketed,  metacar- 

pals  separate. 

5.  Pteran'odon,  winged  reptile,  short  tail,  no  teeth,  bird-like  head. 

6.  Ramphorhyn' chus,  winged  reptile,  distant,  sharp  and  curved  teeth, 

horny  tips  of  mandibles,  long  tail. 

7.  Pterodac'tylus,  winged  reptile,  bird-like  scapula  and  coracoid. 

8.  Thecfodont  Saurians,  typical  saurians  with  socketed  teeth. 

Here  are  two  lines  of  gradation  from  reptiles  to  birds, 
arranged  out  of  extinct  forms.  It  must  be  stated,  however, 
that  their  order  of  succession  in  time  does  not  correspond  with 
their  relative  position  in  the  gradation.  But  we  know,  as  yet, 
so  little  about  the  complete  fauna  of  different  ages,  that  it 
would  be  rash  to  conclude  that  the  actual  order  of  appearance 
was  not  accordant  with  their  order  in  rank. 

Let  me  now  present  a  gradation  of  forms  which  corre- 
sponds strictly  with  their  order  of  appearance. 


LIFE  PLANS.  263 

1.  Equus,  late  Pliocene.   Common  horse,  feet  reduced  to  central  series 

of  bones  (middle  finger  and  toe),  a  pair  of  ''splints"  to  rep- 
resent second  and  fourth  digits. 

2.  Pliohip'puS)  middle  Pliocene.    Smaller,  central  digital  series  more 

slender;  splints  more  elongated;  crown  of  upper  molars 
shorter,  and  crescentic  areas  simpler. 

3.  Protohip'pus,  early  Pliocene.     Size  of  Ass;  central  digital  series 

still  more  slender ;  splints  terminated  by  dangling  hooflets ; 
ulna  long  as  arm,  but  slender;  fibula  rudimentary;  crowns  of 
molars  much  shorter. 

4.  Miohip'pus,  of  late  Miocene.    Size  of  sheep ;  three  functional  toes 

before  and  three  behind;  small  splint  of  fifth  digit,  before; 
ulna  distinct,  long  as  radius,  but  very  slender  at  lower  end; 
fibula  co-ossified  with  tibia  at  lower  end;  molar  crowns  de- 
cidedly short ;  enamel  folds  much  simpler  than  in  horse. 

5.  Mesohip'pus,  of  oldest  Miocene.    Size  of  sheep ;  three  functional 

toes  before  and  three  behind,  but  more  nearly  equal  than  in 
Miohippus ;  large  splint  of  fifth  digit,  before ;  radius  and  ulna 
distinct,  and  also  tibia  and  fibula. 

6.  Orohip'pus,  of  middle  Eocene,  of  Wyoming  and  Utah.     Size  of 

fox ;  four  functional  toes  before  and  three  behind ;  ulna  com- 
plete and  distinct  from  radius;  tibia  and  fibula  also  distinct; 
molar  crowns  exceedingly  short;  enamel  pattern  simple. 

7.  Eohip'pus,  of  oldest  Eocene,  of  New  Mexico.     Size  of  fox ;  four 

functional  toes  before  and  three  behind ;  rudiments  of  outer 
or  fifth  toe  behind,  and  hence,  probably,  of  first  digit  before ; 
hoofs  mere  thick,  broad  and  blunt  claws;  molars  less  spe- 
cialized than  in  Orohippus,  without  cement. 

The  affinities,  gradations,  and  successions  thus  indicated  are 
facts  of  observation ;  they  depend  on  no  theory  of  organic 
history.  They  simply  show  that  each  type  of  the  past  pos- 
sessed characters  which  related  it  to  organisms  yet  future. 
There  was  retrospect;  there  was  anticipation.  The  past  was 
bound  to  the  present;  the  present,  to  the  future.  History 
was  a  constant  unfolding  of  that  which  was  contained  in  the 
past.  Progress  was  a  perpetual  fulfillment  of  prophecy. 


264  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

XL/VI.   THE  THROES  OR  THE  CONTINENT. 

HOW   THE   LAND    GREW. 

WHILE  the  great  plan  of  organic  life  was  unfolding  itself, 
the  continental  theater  of  its  exhibition  underwent  a  process 
of  expansion  which  no  less  reveals  a  plan,  and  no  less  awakens 
our  interest  and  admiration.  By  what  stages  the  region  east 
of  the  Great  Plains  acquired  its  form  and  dimensions,  has 
long  been  understood ;  but  the  method  of  the  building  of  the 
western  half  has  only  been  Jbrought  to  light  through  the  re- 
cent researches  of  Hayden  and  Meek,  King  and  Wheeler, 
Powell  and  Dutton,  Gilbert  and  Hague,  Whitney  and  Gabb, 
and  their  compeers  and  collaborators. 

East  of  the  Great  Plains,  rose  first  a  long,  hook-shaped 
ridge,  with  its  longer  branch  stretching  from  the  north  shores 
of  the  Upper  Lakes  to  the  Arctic  Ocean,  in  the  region  be- 
tween Hudson's  Bay  and  McKenzie's  River;  while  the  shorter 
branch  extended  northeastward  as  far  as  the  coast  of  Labrador. 
Not  improbably  this  branch  stretched  across  the  North  At- 
lantic to  the  British  Islands  and  Scandinavia.  This  primitive 
area  I  have  styled  the  Great  Northern  Land.  It  is  also  known 
as  the  Laurentian  area — a  name  which  applies  properly  only 
to  the  portion  sustaining  some  contiguity  to  the  St.  Lawrence. 

Along  the  low  seaboard  region  east  of  the  Appalachians, 
stretches,  from  Maine  to  Alabama,  the  stump  of  an  ancient 
mountain  range  which  appears  to  have  been  of  the  same  age. 
The  stump  only,  I  say,  for  the  tooth  of  time  has  gnawed  it 
nearly  level  with  the  sea,  and  the  old  material  has  been  re- 
built in  the  foundations  of  later  lands.  This  was  the  great 
Seaboard  Land. 

West  of  the  Great  Plains,  as  we  now  understand,  stretched 
another  long  belt  of  land,  which  was  destined  eventually,  to 
be  consolidated  with  the  eastern  lands,  to  form  the  continent. 
In  width,  it  extended  originally — that  is,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  Palaeozoic  JEon,  from  the  eastern  bases  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains  to  western  Nevada — probably  seven  hundred  and 
fifty  miles;  in  length,  it  stretched  far  northward  and  south- 


THE  THROES  OF  THE  CONTINENT.  265 

ward,  to  distances  not  yet  ascertained.  This  was  the  Great 
Cordilleran  Land.  There  were  probably  other  small  land 
areas,  rising  like  islands  from  the  universal  ocean;  and  there 
may  have  been  other  areas  of  moderate  continental  extent; 
but,  so  far  as  our  probable  knowledge  goes,  the  three  con- 
tinental expanses  mentioned  were  the  chief  beginnings  of  North 
America. 

Simultaneously  some  of  the  north-eastern  portion  of  South 
America  was  land;  and  perhaps,  also,  a  part  of  the  region 
now  occupied  by  the  West  Indies.  Some  portions  of  the 
British  Islands  were  also  land ;  and  this  stretched  across  the 
North  Sea  into  Scandinavia.  Most  other  parts  of  the  world 
were  sea-bottom. 

The  Cordilleran  Land  was  a  great  mountain  system,  dis- 
playing lofty  ranges  made  of  crumpled  strata ;  enormous  prec- 
ipices, the  result  of  mechanical  dislocation;  and  finally,  a 
type  of  mountain  sculpture,  of  such  broad,  smooth  forms  as 
to  warrant  the  belief  that  subaerial  erosion  had  never  carved 
and  furrowed  the  mountain  flanks  with  the  sharp  ravines 
characteristic  of  modern  mountain  topography.  This  massive 
belt  of  Eozoic  Cordilleras  determined  the  limits  of  the  mod- 
ern cordilleras,  and  very  much  of  the  details  of  their  funda- 
mental structure. 

Such  was  America  in  the  twilight  of  its  history.  There 
must  have  been,  however,  as  I  have  argued  in  Talk  XXXEK, 
some  lands  which  had  now  disappeared.  These  surviving 
germinal  nuclei  are  composed  of  stratified  rocks.  Older  rocks 
had  been  reduced  to  sediment  in  supplying  material  for  the 
building  of  the  lands  which  are  the  oldest  now  remaining. 
Let  us  see  what  vicissitudes  these  lands  were  destined  to  un- 
dergo. 

The  first  aeon  of  the  ocean's  history  was  past.  With  the 
opening  of  the  second,  nearly  the  whole  of  the  Cordilleran 
Land  began  to  subside.  It  sank  until  only  the  mountain 
masses  rose  as  rugged  islands  above  the  sea-level.  Only  the 
western  border  held  its  position.  This  remnant  of  the  Cor- 
dilleran Land  stretched  along  western  Nevada  and  eastern 

23 


266  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

California.  The  continent  eastward  became  an  archipelago. 
Cambrian  sediments  were  deposited  over  all  its  scarred  and 
broken  surface.  One  ocean  stretched  from  western  Nevada 
to  New  England.  Whether  the  Atlantic  Seaboard  Land  rose 
or  subsided,  we  are  unable  to  say.  Probably  it  sank,  and  its 
original  extent  became  concealed  by  overlapping  Cambrian 
sediments.  The  Great  Northern  Land,  however,  began  a  slow 
upward  movement,  which  was  destined  to  continue  through 
all  Palaeozoic  time. 

In  the  progress  of  the  Palaeozoic  ages,  the  tenor  of  conti- 
nental history  was  an  almost  continuous  emergence  of  the 
Laurentian  portion  of  the  Northern  Land,  and  a  continuous 
sinking  of  the  Cordilleran  Land.  The  Laurentian,  accord- 
ingly, continued  to  broaden  its  base  as  the  remnants  of  the 
Cordilleran  continued  to  grow  less.  The  Cordilleran  sub- 
sidence was  greatest  toward  the  shore  of  the  Nevada  conti- 
nent, which  was  undergoing  vast  wastage  in  supplying  the 
sediments  which  overspread  the  surface  of  the  sunken  Cordil- 
leran region.  Coarse  and  thick  toward  the  west,  they  became 
finer  and  thinner  eastward.  By  the  close  of  Palaeozoic  time, 
the  sediments  accumulated  over  the  Cordilleran  Land  were 
one  thousand  feet  thick  in  the  Kocky  Mountains,  thirty-two 
thousand  feet  in  the  Wahsatch  region,  and  forty  thousand 
feet  at  the  extreme  western  Palaeozoic  limit,  longitude  117° 
3(X  west.  Only  a  few  granitic  islands  interrupted  the  con- 
tinuity of  the  uppermost  Carboniferous  sheets,  from  Nevada 
to  the  Great  Plains.  The  ancient  Eozoic  topography  was 
buried  irretrievably  out  of  sight — save  where,  in  later  times, 
local  uplifts  brought  it  again  up  to  observation.  The  Appa- 
lachian region,  meanwhile,  underwent  a  similar  subsidence. 
There  are  some  reasons  for  supposing  this  region  was,  at  the 
beginning  of  Palaeozoic  time,  annexed  to  the  western  border 
of  the  Seaboard  land.  If  so,  the  conditious  here  were  a  sink- 
ing land  loaded  with  sediments  derived  from  a  wasting  stationary 
land  on  the  east;  as  in  the  west,  the  situation  was  the  same,  but 
with  the  wasting  land  on  the  west.  West  and  east  the  fixed 
and  wasting  land  was  oceanward  from  the  sinking  area. 


THE  THROES  OF  THE  CONTINENT.  267 

Great  changes  now  took  place.  The  Nevada  continent, 
which  had  yielded  thousands  of  cubic  miles  of  Palaeozoic 
sediments,  now,  in  its  turn,  went  down,  and  a  broad  region 
eastward,  as  far  as  the  Wahsatch  Mountains,  came  up.  The 
Cordilleran  continent  was  now  located  in  the  region  at  present 
known  as  the  "Basin  Province,"  embracing  Great  Salt  Lake, 
Pyramid  Lake,  and  others.  Only  the  foundations  of  the 
Sierra  Nevada  had  been  laid.  The  Basin  Continent  on  the 
east  was  to  be  ground  up  to  supply  the  masonry  for  a  new 
structure ;  just  as  the  Nevadan  foundation  itself  was  the 
mere  stump  of  a  land  pulverized  to  supply  materials  for 
the  Basin  Land.  So  nature's  method  is  to  build,  demolish, 
and  rebuild.  As  in  the  successions  of  life,  so  in  the  succes- 
sions of  continents. 

But  while  this  continental  see-saw  was  in  progress  west  of 
the  Wahsatch,  all  remained  quiet  to  the  east,  as  far  as  the 
Great  Plains.  In  the  Appalachian  region,  however,  a  similar 
see-saw  occurred.  The  loaded  Appalachian  belt  came  up  in  a 
series  of  mountain  folds  fifteen  thousand  feet  high,  while  the 
Seaboard  Land,  that  had  been  wasted  in  supplying  the  load, 
went  down — most  of  it,  like  the  old  Nevadan  continent,  below 
sea-level.  Simultaneously,  the  whole  breadth  of  the  country 
westward  to  the  Great  Plains,  was  finally  annexed  to  the 
eartern  limb  of  North  America. 

It  was  now  the  beginning  of  the  geologic  Middle  Ages. 
East  of  western  Kansas,  the  land  was  completed,  save  the 
Atlantic  and  Gulf  border.  .  West  of  the  same  meridian 
stretched  a  broad  ocean — over  the  region  of  the  Great  Plains ; 
across  the  belt  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  where  it  was  inter- 
rupted by  the  meridionally  disposed  Colorado,  Medicine  Bow, 
and  Park  Ranges ;  across  the  broad  Plateau  region  of  the  pres- 
ent, to  the  base  of  the  newly  uplifted  Basin  Land — which  was 
now  melting  away  under  the  sedimentary  demands  for  Meso- 
zoic  materials  on  the  east  and  the  west.  To  the  south,  this 
ocean  extended  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Northward,  it  joined 
the  Arctic  Ocean.  West  of  the  Basin  continent,  the  sedi- 
ments of  the  Triassic  and  Jurassic  formations  were  laid  down 


268  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

uncouformably  on  the  eroded  Eozoic  surface  which  had  sunken. 
East  of  the  basin  continent,  the  new  sediments  were  spread 
conformably  on  the  last  Carboniferous  sheets.  At  the  close 
of  the  Jurassic  Age,  these  sediments  had  attained  on  the  west, 
a  thickness  of  twenty  thousand  feet.  On  the  east,  they  were 
less  than  four  thousand  feet. 

Now  rose  the  vast  crumpled  folds  of  the  Sierra  Nevada, 
adding  two  hundred  miles  to  the  Basin  continent  on  the  west, 
and  stretching  southward  at  least  to  the  thirty-sixth  parallel, 
and  northward  to  Alaska.  East  of  the  Wahsatch,  however, 
every  thing  still  remained  quiet — save  that  the  great  orographic 
event  of  the  west  sent  its  rock-fragments,  pebbles  and  sands 
eastward  over  the  ocean's  floor  as  far  as  Kansas,  forming  the 
conglomeritic  Dakota  Group  at  the  base  of  the  Cretaceous. 

No  further  orographic  disturbances  took  place  until  the 
close  of  the  Cretaceous.  To  this  epoch,  the  sedimentary  sheets 
had  been  laid  down  in  conformable  positions  continuously 
from  the  Cambrian  upward.  Now,  however,  came  the  turn 
of  the  region  at  present  known  as  the  "Plateau  Province." 
Upward  and  undulatory  movements  were  experienced  from 
the  region  of  the  Great  Plains  to  the  base  of  the  Wahsatch. 
Now  rose  the  broad,  flat,  east-and-west  anticlinal  known  as 
the  Uinta  Mountains ;  and  the  whole  mass  on  the  east  was 
further  upraised,  of  which  the  rocky  Mountains  are  the  salient 
ridges.  The  broad  shallow  basin  of  the  Colorado  River  was 
now  defined.  On  the  Pacific  coast,  this  disturbance  was  felt 
only  in  the  defining  of  the  position  of  the  Coast  Ranges. 

The  great  feature  of  this  post-Cretaceous  movement  was 
the  re-emergence  of  that  part  of  the  ancient  Cordilleran  area, 
now  called  the  Plateau  Province.  It  had  sunken,  with  the 
whole  breadth  of  the  Cordilleran  Land,  at  the  end  of  the 
Eozoic  JEon.  •  Now  the  two  limbs  of  the  American  continent 
were  joined  together.  From  Middle  California  to  Boston  Bay 
was  a  continuous  land  connection.  Only  a  narrow  border  re- 
mained to  be  added  around  the  Atlantic,  Pacific,  and  Gulf 
coasts.  Remnants,  however,  of  the  ancient  mediterranean  sea 
remained  in  the  interior,  forming  lakes  as  large  as  Superior. 


THE  THROES  OF  THE  CONTINENT.  269 

These,  in  the  succeeding  ages,  were  at  times  enlarged,  at 
times  contracted,  through  the  orographic  movements  taking 
place,  and  finally  filled  or  drained  (see  Talks  XVIII  and 
XLIV).  During  the  Miocene  epoch  a  great  lake  covered  the 
region  of  the  Great  Plains,  as  far  as  the  Gulf  of  Mexico — a 
region  which  appears  to  have  been  mostly  land  during  the 
Eocene.  Meantime,  vast  volcanic  eruptions  were  taking  place 
along  the  Pacific  border,  burying  thousands  of  square  miles 
under  lava,  and  supplying  ashes  which  filled  some  of  the 
western  lakes  four  thousand  feet  deep. 

The  interior  lake  history  continued  of  similar  tenor  till  the 
close  of  the  Pliocene,  when  the  grand  movements  occurred 
which  impressed  on  the  broad  Cordilleran  region  its  present 
surface  features.  The  rocky  sheets  of  the  Great  Plains  were 
tilted  into  a  position  which  secured  drainage  of  the  great  lake 
which  had  covered  them.  In  the  far  west,  the  Sierra  Nevada 
and  the  Wahsatch  were  rent  logitudinally  by  great  faults 
along  their  crests,  and  the  continental  mass  between  the  faults 
sank  down  one  or  two  thousand  feet,  forming  the  Great  Basin, 
and  returning  it  to  the  depressed  condition  which  it  had  held 
through  the  whole  of  Palaeozoic  time.  On  its  eastern  and 
western  borders,  gathered  two  lakes,  each  as  large  as  Huron, 
the  eastern  of  which  has  shrunken  to  Great  Salt  Lake,  Utah, 
and  Sevier;  while  the  western  exists  only  in  the  remnants 
known  as  Pyramid,  Winnemuca,  Carson,  Walker,  and  Hum- 
boldt  Lakes.  Later  mountain  ranges  have  risen  here  and 
there  in  the  Basin,  and  volcanic  outbursts  have  contributed  to 
diversify  the  topography.  These  final  disturbances,  followed 
probably  by  some  later  ones — all  embraced  within  the  Quater- 
nary period — shattered  the  Plateau  Province  to  a  destructive 
extent.  Great  fractures  ran  through  it  from  end  to  end.  On 
one  side  of  each,  the  rocky  sheet  is  generally  upraised,  and 
on  the  other,  depressed.  Volcanic  mountains  have  been  built 
up  here  and  there,  and  earthquakes  have  shattered  the  blocks 
shaped  by  the  meridional  faults.  Simultaneously,  surface  ero- 
sions have  perpetually  changed  the  configuration  of  the  surface. 
Rivers  have  cut  their  way  through  mountains,  through  lava 


270  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

plains,  through  the  later  strata,  and  in  some  cases,  a  thousand 
feet  into  the  long-buried  formations  of  the  primitive  Cordil- 
leran  Land. 


.    THE  R.EIQN  OF  ICE. 
CONTINENTAL  GLACIATION. 

THE  gradual  enlargement  of  the  continent  had  brought  it 
now  to  the  condition  in  which  man  was  destined  to  make  its 
acquaintance.  The  gradual  advancement  of  organic  improve- 
ment had  now  reached  a  stage  where  the  next  step  must 
bring  man  upon  the  theater  of  life.  Even  the  animals  which 
man  was  destined  to  domesticate  were  already  on  the  earth, 
and  awaiting  the  advent  of  their  master.  The  forests  too, 
had  assumed  the  aspect  which  was  to  become  familiar  to  man, 
and  seemed  to  stand  expectant  of  the  being  so  long  promised. 
The  whole  earth  seemed  ready  for  that  final  stroke  which 
should  consummate  organic  improvement,  justify  the  physical 
preparations  through  aeons  in  progress,  and  explain  nature's 
long-continued  appeals  to  intelligence  and  taste  which  had  not 
been  in  the  world. 

But  nature  must  yet  pause.  The  continents  intended  for 
civilized  man  lacked  something  yet  to  fit  them  for  his  advent. 
Throughout  Asia,  Europe  and  North  America,  the  continental 
surface  had  become  deteriorated  by  erosions  and  wastage  tak- 
ing place  during  the  reign  of  mammals.  The  land  had  been 
set  apart  for  the  use  and  convenience  of  this  dynasty,  and  in 
their  service  it  had  been  exhausted.  Each  of  the  great  domi- 
nant dynasties  in  succession,  had  the  continents  for  their  use, 
and  in  their  behoof  they  were  worn  ont.  For  each  new  dy- 
nasty a  renovation  was  demanded.  At  the  present  juncture, 
the  soils  had  been  reduced  through  wastage,  to  the  condition 
which  we  plainly  see  approaching  again  under  the  actions  ex- 
.erted  during  the  human  reign.  The  rivers,  long  confined  to 
the  same  channels,  had  excavated  deep  gorges.  Retired  in 
these  their  evaporation  was  checked,  the  clouds  were  starved 
and  the  soils  were  robbed  of  their  rains.  Every  tributary 


THE  REIGN  OF  ICE.  271 

had  scored  a  ravine  which  split  the  land.  The  streams  were 
inaccessible  and  dwarfed,  and  their  availability  for  human 
uses  seriously  impaired.  There  must  be  a  general  repair  of 
the  surface  before  it  would  meet  the  demands  of  a  being  of 
such  enterprise  and  resources  as  man  was  destined  to  be. 

The  end  so  necessary  was  accomplished  without  departure 
from  the  fundamental  method  of  all  the  previous  history  of 
the  continents.  Uplift  and  subsidence  accomplished  the  gla- 
cial renovation  which  now  approached.  We  have  already 
studied  many  indications  of  glacier  action.  We  have  con- 
cluded (Talk  III,  which  should  now  be  reviewed)  from  the 
inductive  evidence,  that  a  continental  glacier  has  some  time, 
brooded  over  the  land,  and  we  have  made  some  observa- 
tions on  actual  glaciers  (Talk  IV).  We  will  now  attempt  to 
sketch  the  glaciatiou  of  a  continent,  from  a  historical  point 
of  view. 

The  mild  climate  of  the  middle  and  later  Tertiary  time 
which  had  prevailed  as  far  north  as  Disco,  on  the  coast  of 
Greenland,  and  Melville  and  Bennett  Islands  in  the  Arctic 
Ocean,  had  already  been  succeeded  by  a  colder  one.  The  cause 
of  the  change  remains  an  unsolved  problem.  The  later  invasion 
of  severe  cold,  throughout  the  northern  temperate  zone,  is 
generally  ascribed  to  northern  elevation;  but  there  is  much 
reason  to  suppose  it  the  result  of  certain  astronomical  changes, 
and  to  hold,  also,  that  this  was  but  one  of  a  succession  of  glacial 
visitations.  Whatever  the  cause,  the  reality  of  the  glacier  period 
can  not  be  questioned.  The  area  of  perpetual  snow  had  ex- 
tended its  limits  from  the  arctic  zone  into  northern  America. 
In  the  middle  latitudes,  an  unwonted  chill  was  already  ex- 
perienced in  the  atmosphere.  Successive  winters  grew  more 
and  more  severe,  and  the  snow  lingered  always  later  in  the 
spring.  There  were  deep  ravines  where  it  survived  the  sum- 
mer. With  continued  depression  of  mean  temperature,  the 
winter  snows  still  further  delayed  their  departure.  The  forest 
was  changed.  One  by  one,  the  species  suited  to  a  milder  cli- 
mate perished ;  and  frost  began  to  brown  foliage  in  a  zone 
which  had  witnessed  a  state  of  perpetual  verdure.  Year  by 


272  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

year,  the  line  of  permanent  snow  extended  itself  southward. 
Probably  the  volume  of  snowy  precipitation  was  increased, 
and  thus  the  march  of  the  reign  of  snow,  was  accelerated. 

The  sheet  of  perpetual  snow,  to  whatever  limit  it  reached, 
was  divided  into  two  areas  by  an  isothermal  line.  Had  the  sun 
never  exerted  a  thawing  influence — had  no  thawing  ever 
taken  place  in  any  portion  of  the  snow,  it  would  have  re- 
mained a  soft  and  fleecy  covering.  But  wherever  incipient 
thawing  was  felt,  the  snow  crystals  began  to  resolve  them- 
selves into  grains  of  ice.  Down  to  the  latitude  where  this 
change  was  unable  to  proceed  farther,  the  condition  of  the 
snow  remained  granular,  as  it  now  does  in  the  Alps.  If  how- 
ever, the  melting  influence  proceeded  farther,  the  granular 
snow-mass  resolved  itself  into  solid  ice.  These  changes  can  be 
traced  in  the  snow  which  falls  upon  our  streets.  Thus  all  the 
southern  portion  of  the  snow-field  became  a  true  glacier; 
north  of  that  was  a  zone  of  neve ;  and  possibly  a  zone  of  soft 
snow  covered  the  area  still  nearer  the  pole.  All  this,  of 
course,  supposes  precipitation  to  have  taken  place.  If  in  any 
region,  precipitation  was  wanting  or  scant,  the  snowy  or  icy 
covering  did  not  appear. 

On  its  northern  border,  the  glacier  was  fixed  to  the  mass 
of  ice  or  neve  beyond ;  and  very  probably  it  was  fixed  to  the 
earth.  The  glacier,  like  all  glaciers,  must  move;  and  the 
motion  would  be  developed  along  the  free  border.  The 
glacier,  therefore,  traveled  southward.  Consider  the  conse- 
quences of  the  motion.  The  soft  snow  had  filled  the  gorges 
and  the  river  valleys.  It  had  settled  around  cliff  and  crag, 
and  when  it  became  ice,  it  held  them  in  its  firm  grasp.  The 
motion  of  the  glacier  wrenched  fragments  from  their  fasten- 
ings and  moved  them  southward.  The  rock  fragments,  like 
diamonds  in  a  setting,  marked  and  scored  the  underlying  sur- 
face. The  loose  materials,  the  accumulation  of  a  previous 
geologic  aBon,  were  plowed  to  the  bed-rock.  The  bed-rock 
was  scored  and  striated  by  the  tremendous  power  of  the 
glacier. 

Every  year,  the  great  ice-sheet  encroached  a  little  farther 


THE  REIGN  OF  ICE.  273 

on  the  unglaciated  area.  This  resulted  partly  from  the  south- 
ward growth  of  the  glacier,  and  partly  from  its  southward 
motion.  In  its  motion,  it  prostrated  the  standing  forest,  and 
the  ruins  were  mingled  with  the  rock-ruin  which  the  ice-mass 
stirred  and  transported.  The  march  of  the  glacier's  southern 
border  continued  until  it  reached  New  York,  Louisville,  St. 
Louis,  and  Topeka.  It  passed  over  Long  Island  Sound  and 
reached  the  ocean  shore.  Westward,  over  the  Great  Plains, 
its  footmarks  are  not  traced.  Perhaps  the  precipitation  there, 
as  now,  was  insufficient  to  enable  the  snow  to  outlast  the  sum- 
mer heat.  Further  west,  the  glaciation  seems  to  have  been 
restricted  to  mountain  ranges.  But  glaciation  was  far  from 
unknown,  even  to  the  Pacific  slope.  Northward,  the  extent 
of  the  glaciation  increased,  as  far  as  Alaska. 

Now  the  geologic  winter  was  marked  by  an  "'open"  spell. 
It  probably  lasted  for  centuries.  The  ice  dissolved,  and  the 
border  of  the  glacier  retreated  perhaps,  to  the  latitude  of 
Marquette.  Over  the  uncovered  area,  it  was  a  new  spring- 
time. Vegetation  sprang  into  existence,  and  a  fresh  soil 
accumulated.  Then  came  a  recurrence  of  cold.  The  old 
glacier  resumed  its  southward  movement.  In  saying  it  was  a 
"continental"  glacier,  it  is  not  meant  that  an  ice-field  conti- 
nent-wide moved  with  a  consentaneous  movement.  The  ice- 
sheet  felt  the  influence  of  the  underlying  topography.  Its 
motion  tended  everywhere  to  the  lower  level  and  warmer 
situation.  Seldom  was  that  direction  precisely  south.  In  the 
valley  of  the  Connecticut,  the  movement  was  south.  In  the 
valley  of  the  Mohawk  it  was  eastward.  Through  the  valley 
now  occupied  by  Lakes  Ontario  and  Erie,  it  was  south-west 
as  far  as  Indianapolis,  and  south  as  far  as  Columbus.  Another 
glacier  stream  flowed  through  the  valley  destined  to  be  the 
basins  of  Lake  Huron  and  Saginaw  Bay.  Its  southern  border 
joined  the  Lake  Erie  glacier ;  and  the  long  broken  chain  of 
sand  and  bowlder  hills  passing  through  Ann  Arbor,  shows 
where  the  joint  rubbish  of  the  two  glaciers  was  left.  Another 
glacier  stream  passed  along  the  valley  of  Lake  Michigan; 
another  down  the  valley  of  Green  Bay  and  its  continuation  to 


274  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

Madison.  Still  others  streamed  from  Keweenaw  Point  and 
Duluth  into  central  Wisconsin  and  Minnesota.  Wherever 
these  local  ice-streams  terminated,  they  left  moraines  to  mark 
the  extent  of  their  advance.  This  was  the  "second  glacial 
period."  The  entire  continent  north  of  an  irregular  line  pass- 
ing through  New  York,  Fort  Wayne,  Madison,  Minneapolis, 
and  Yankton,  lay,  like  the  soil  of  Greenland  in  our  time, 
buried  beneath  a  bed  of  ice  and  snow  some  thousands  of  feet 
thick.  The  summits  of  the  Adirondacks,  the  Catskills,  and 
the  White  Mountains  barely  emerged  above  the  desolate, 
featureless  waste.  What  went  on — how  the  subglacial  ine- 
qualities of  surface  strained  the  semi-rigid  ice-stream  into  con- 
formity ;  how  the  deep  ice-mass  snapped  with  loud  detonations, 
into  yawning  crevasses;  how  the  summer  sun  gave  origin  to 
superglacial  streams  Avhich  sooner  or  later  lost  themselves  in 
the  fissures,  and  joined  the  roaring  streams  beneath  the  ice, 
which  escaped  at  intervals  along  the  southern  border ;  how 
they  were  augmented  by  the  enormous  thawing  of  the  under 
surface  of  the  glacier;  how  these  streams  assorted  and  trans- 
ported the  subglacial  debris — all  these  things  are  of  too  great 
interest  to  fail  of  mention,  but  of  too  great  importance  to  admit 
of  adequate  discussion. 

During  this  reign  of  ice,  the  snows  fell  which  overtook  the 
long-haired  elephant  of  Siberia  and  Alaska  (Talk  XXVII), 
and  buried  them  in  herds.  They  had  been  browsing  for 
many  generations  on  that  northern  slope.  I  know  not  to  how 
severe  a  climate  their  natures  fitted  them ;  but  clearly  it  had 
not  been  a  climate  which  brought  perpetual  snow.  Now  they 
experienced  a  new  chill  in  the  atmosphere.  Now  the  snows 
descended  and  they  crowded  themselves  together  in  ravines 
for  warmth  and  mutual  protection.  Their  instincts  taught 
them  this  mode  of  self-preservation.  They  had  often  outlived 
a  snow-burial  during  winters  preceding.  But  their  last  burial 
finally  arrived.  Now  no  thaw  succeeded  the  overwhelming 
storm.  No  spring-time  returned  to  release  them  from  their 
chilly  retreat.  Spring  only  turned  the  snowy  blanket  to  ice. 
Other  winters  buried  the  mammoth  beneath  added  beds  of  ice. 


A  GEOLOGIC  SPRING  TIME.  275 

In  such  a  tomb,  they  lay  unchanged  until  the  age  of  man 
and  slowly  returning  warmth  brought  their  lifeless  carcasses 
to  a  dumb  resurrection. 

The  accumulation  of  five  thousand  feet  of  ice  over  a  por- 
tion of  the  earth's  surface  required  some  new  adjustments  of 
equilibrium.  If  the  ice-bed  covered  the  entire  north,  and  the 
terrestrial  crust  remained  rigid,  the  added  weight  transferred 
the  earth's  center  of  gravity  toward  the  north,  and  with  it 
flowed  the  ocean  northward.  With  a  flooding  of  all  the 
northern  shores  there  was  a  corresponding  emergence  of  the 
antarctic.  If  the  weight  of  ice  depressed  the  terrestrial  crust, 
the  position  of  the  center  of  gravity  may  not  have  been 
changed;  but  the  shores  depressed  would  be  flooded  by  the 
ocean,  as  before.  Farther,  the  displaced  fluid  matter  beneath 
sought  escape,  through  fissures,  to  the  surface.  If  the  enor- 
mous ice-pressure  was  felt  by  the  regions  east  of  the  Great 
Plains  and  north  of  the  Snake  Kiver,  the  depression  of  the 
glaciated  regions  caused  the  fluid  internal  substances  to  react 
beneath  regions  farther  west  and  south ;  and  in  many  cases,  to 
develop  fractures  through  which  molten  outflows  took  place. 
In  this  view,  the  great  post-pliocene  lava  floods  of  the  west 
were  the  counterpart  of  the  great  ice-burdens  of  the  east  and 
north. 


.   A.  GEOLOGIC  SPRING 

INCIDENTS   OF   THE   CHAMPLAIN   EPOCH. 

THE  rigor  of  the  long  winter  began  to  relent.  We  can  not 
certainly  state  what  physical  conditions  brought  about  the 
change ;  but  if  elevation  brought  the  cold,  then  probably,  the 
return  of  warmth  resulted  from  restoring  the  ancient  level. 
We  are  certain,  on  good  evidence,  that  a  subsidence  took  place. 
At  some  time  after  the  advent  of  general  glaciation,  the  east- 
ern United  States  and  Canada  were  inundated  by  the  ocean. 
The  depth  of  the  submergence  was  470  feet  at  Montreal ; 
and  it  diminished  gradually  southward.  At  Lewiston,  Maine, 
the  sea-beach  is  two  hundred  feet  above  present  tide-level ; 


27G  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

near  Boston,  one  hundred  feet ;  on  Nantucket,  eighty-five  feet. 
Northward,  on  the  contrary,  the  submergence  increased  in 
depth.  On  the  coast  of  Labrador,  it  was  five  hundred  feet ; 
in  Barrows'  Strait,  it  was  over  one  thousand  feet.  The  usual 
opinion  is  that  this  submergence  occurred  after  the  dissolution 
of  the  glacier;  but  I  incline  to  the  conviction  that  it  was 
coincident  with  the  glacier.  I  have  already  suggested,  follow- 
ing Croll  and  general  opinion,  that  a  load  of  northern  ice 
would  very  probably  cause  submergence  of  northern  shores — 
though  I  think  it  resulted  from  depression  of  the  crust,  rather 
than  a  shifting  of  the  center  of  gravity.  Such  submergence 
would  be  greatest  northward.  The  facts  observed  seem  to 
show  that  it  was  a  submergence  of  the  glacial  epoch,  instead 
of  the  post-glacial.  If  the  sunken  shores  were  already  buried 
in  ice,  the  temperature  of  the  sea  would  dissolve  it,  and  the 
sea-bottom  would  be  of  the  usual  character  of  a  submerged 
beach. 

The  depths  of  submergence  just  mentioned  are  far  less  than 
would  have  taken  place,  if  the  crust  of  earth  had  yielded 
readily  to  the  pressure  of  five  thousand  feet  of  ice.  To  have 
influenced  the  temperature,  there  must  have  been  a  much 
greater  subsidence  from  the  point  of  maximum  elevation.  It 
is  reasonable  to  conclude  that  the  action  which  caused  the 
original  elevation  was  now  reversed,  and  much  greater  subsi- 
dence took  place  than  was  due  to  the  load  of  ice. 

Whatever  the  amount  of  subsidence;  whatever  its  cause; 
whatever  the  cause  of  the  climatic  amelioration,  there  is  no 
question  about  the  return  of  a  geological  spring.  The  glacier 
began  to  waste  more  than  its  annual  growth.  A  steady  re- 
cession began  along  its  southern  margin.  A  series  of  morainic 
loops  was  left  to  mark  its  farthest  advance.  They  were  com- 
posed of  bowlders  and  sand.  The  materials  were  accumulated 
in  hills  and  ridges,  with  intervening  "pot-holes"  and  valleys. 
The  dissolution  of  the  ice-field  proceeded  with  rapidity.  Lively 
rills  flowed  over  the  surface  of  the  ice,  and  turbid  streams 
sprang  from  the  foot  of  the  glacier — such  streams  as  make  the 
Aar  (Talk  VIII)  and  the  Arve  (Talk  IV).  The  moraine  de- 


A  GEOLOGIC  SPKING  TIME.  277 

posits  were  partially  washed  away.  The  moraine  of  the  first 
glacial  epoch,  farther  south,  was  now  subjected  to  the  action 
of  a  second  flood.  It  suffered  greater  erosion  than  the  second 
moraine,  and  hence  remains  to  us  a  less  conspicuous  feature 
than  the  second. 

The  ice-sheet  had  laid  down  an  unstratified  bed  of  "till" — 
a  compact  mass  of  clay,  pebbles,  and  bowlders;  the  glacial 
flood  transported  vast  quantities  of  material,  and  left  them  in 
a  state  of  torrential  stratification  overspreading  the  till.  There 
is  much  reason  to  believe  that  the  materials  thus  transported 
were  borne  beyond  the  limits  reached  by  the  glacier.  In 
this  way,  the  action  of  the  glacial  expedient  for  renovating 
the  surface  of  the  north  was  extended  to  the  southern  states. 
There  has  certainly  been  a  southward  transportation  of  peb- 
bles and  sand  throughout  all  the  Gulf  states.  It  was  an  event 
synchronous  with  the  dissolution  of  the  great  glacier.  But 
we  must  bear  in  mind  that  the  south  had  not  been  visited  by 
an  agency  which  plowed  up  the  disintegrated  rocks  accumu- 
lated during  preglacial  ages.  The  flooding  of  the  south  ex- 
erted only  a  surface  action. 

Between  the  glacier  and  the  floods,  the  surface  of  the 
whole  country  east  of  the  Great  Plains — with  the  exception 
of  a  few  small  isolated  areas — underwent  a  process  of  thorough 
repair.  The  sharp  river  gorges  were  filled — even  an  ancient 
gorge  of  the  Niagara  Kiver — and  a  fresh  bed  of  subsoil  mate- 
rials was  spread  over  the  land.  The  larger  rivers  sought  out 
the  drainage  valleys  which  they  had  occupied  before  the  in- 
vasion of  glaciers.  The  fundamental  features  of  the  drainage 
were  everywhere  determined  by  the  underlying  rocky  struc- 
ture. But  many  of  the  smaller  streams  which  now  sprang 
into  existence,  selected  for  the  first  time  their  winding  chan- 
nels among  the  inequalities  of  the  Drift-covered  surface.  From 
that  epoch  to  the  present,  all  the  streams  have  employed 
themselves  in  effecting  an  ever  deepening  erosion.  Of  the 
greater  arteries  of  the  continental  drainage,  the  ancient  pre- 
glacial bounding  walls  may  sometimes  still  be  traced.  The 
high  cliffs  of  the  Upper  Mississippi  show  where  the  great  river 


278  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

was  bounded  throughout  all  Csenozoic  and  Mesozoic  time. 
There  was  an  epoch  when  the  excavation  of  this  gorge  began. 
The  great  tide  swept  along  at  the  high  level  of  the  land.  But 
the  stream  has  also  scored  deeper  than  at  present.  The  rocky 
bottom  of  its  channel  is  everywhere  many  feet  below  the 
present  bed  of  sediment.  The  country  stood  higher  once  than 
now ;  the  descent  to  the  sea  was  sharper,  and  the  erosion  more 
profound. 

Of  course,  during  the  melting  epoch,  of  the  great  glacier, 
all  the  streams  were  flooded.  Not  only  did  the  dissolving  ice 
supply  enormous  quantities  of  water;  evaporation  must  have 
been  increased  by  the  extension  of  evaporating  surface,  and 
condensation  must  have  been  promoted  -by  the  large  amount  of 
ice-cold  surface.  It  was  an  epoch  of  rains  and  floods.  All  the 
rivers  have  left  records  of  their  ancient  altitudes.  These  are 
the  terraces.  On  the  Connecticut  we  find  them  from  one 
hundred  and  eighty  to  two  hundred  feet  above  present  flood 
level ;  on  the  Hudson  and  Mohawk,  three  hundred  and  thirty 
feet;  on  the  Genesee,  two  hundred  and  thirty-five  feet;  on 
the  lower  Ohio,  fifty  to  one  hundred  and  eighty  feet ;  on  the 
Missouri,  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet ;  and  so  throughout  North 
America,  all  the  rivers  at  this  epoch  were  flooded. 

The  Niagara  river  had  been  at  work  on  a  vast  gorge  ever 
since  the  Devonian  Age.  Probably  none  of  the  great  lakes 
except  Superior,  then  existed.  From  Lake  Superior  sprang 
a  river  which  flowed  along  a  valley  in  which  the  basins  of 
Lake  Huron  and  Lake  Erie  have  since  been  excavated.  At 
a  point  west  of  the  present  mouth  of  the  Niagara,  it  made  a 
fall,  and  flowed  as  a  river  along  the  Ontario  valley,  and  thus 
to  the  sea.  In  the  course  of  ages,  the  stream  excavated  a 
gorge  as  far  as  the  whirlpool — perhaps  even  farther.  On  the 
re-establishment  of  the  river,  it  did  not  find  its  ancient  gorge, 
but  precipitated  itself  over  the  escarpment  at  Lewiston. 
Here  it  began  a  new  gorge,  and  dug  back  four  miles,  when 
it  struck  the  old  gorge.  Of  course  the  falls  now  continued 
their  recession  rapidly  as  far  back  as  the  head  of  the  old 
gorge.  Since  that  was  reached,  the  work  has  been  contin- 


A  GEOLOGIC  SPRING  TIME.  279 

ued  in  solid  rock,  and  is  now  proceeding  at  the  rate  of  three 
feet  a  year. 

The  question  has  been  much  discussed  whether  the  basins 
of  the  great  lakes  were  excavated  by  the  action  of  the  conti- 
nental glacier.  By  Ramsay,  lake  basins  have  been  generally 
attributed  to  such  action.  By  others,  the  doctrine  is  held  in 
light  esteem,  since  we  have  evidence,  in  some  cases,  that 
glaciers  have  moved  over  sheets  of  clay  without  plowing  them 
up.  I  incline  to  agree  in  part  with  both.  The  positions  of 
the  terminal  and  lateral  moraines  show  that  glaciers  moved 
along  the  beds  of  Lakes  Erie,  Huron-,  and  Michigan,  and  Sag- 
inaw  and  Green  Bays.  What  directed  ice-streams  to  these 
positions?  A  pre-existing  valley.  What  caused  the  valley? 
The  erosion  of  the  great  river  which  had  been  flowing  out  of 
Lake  Superior  during  Mesozoic  and  Csenozoic  ages.  The  val- 
ley may  have  been  a  mile,  or  five  miles,  wide,  and  bounded 
by  precipitous  rocky  walls.  When  the  glacier  commenced  its 
movement  along  such  a  valley,  it  exerted  powerful  erosion 
along  the  steep  bounding  walls,  and  wore  them  down  to  the 
gentle  slopes  which  now  form  part  of  the  bed  of  the  lake. 
The  basins  of  the  lakes  are  demonstrably  works  of  erosion. 
Why  the  great  glaciers  worked  there  more  than  elsewhere, 
was  because  the  great  river  had  inaugurated  the  work  and  in- 
vited the  glacier.  A  glacier  also  moved  out  of  the  western 
end  of  Lake  Superior.  A  valley  already  existed — indeed  a 
lake  basin  existed,  shaped  by  the  ancient  upheaval  of  rocks 
along  the  northern  and  southern  shores. 

In  regions  where  returning  spring-time  found  the  general 
surface  nearly  level,  and  locally  indented  with  basin-like 
depressions,  the  Champlain  floods  formed  large  numbers  of 
lakes  and  lakelets.  Such  depressions  might  arise  from  the 
rocky  configuration  of  the  country — especially  the  larger  de- 
pressions. More  generally  they  were  mere  intervals  inclosed 
by  hills  and  ridges  of  Drift.  Thus  arose  the  numerous  lakes 
of  Maine,  Michigan,  and  Minnesota.  Whenever  a  lakelet 
found  an  outlet,  the  process  of  erosion  began ;  the  lakelet  was 
continually  lowered,  and  in  many  cases,  it  has  been  completely 


280  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

drained.  In  all  cases,  the  filling  of  the  lakelets  has  gone  for- 
ward in  the  manner  described  in  Talk  VIII.  Nature  is  finish- 
ing the  world  before  our  eyes. 

It  was  during  the  spring-time  empire  of  water,  that  the 
Great  Lakes  stood  at  the  high  levels  described  in  Talk  VII. 
To  this  inundation  of  Illinois,  the  prairies  of  the  Mississippi 
owe  their  origin.  The  prairie  formation  is  a  stratified  deposit 
of  fine  clay,  sand,  and  alluvial  matter.  It  is  a  fresh-water 
deposit.  It  was  laid  down  on  the  top  of  the  Drift.  The  topo- 
graphical and  geological  facts  point  to  the  great  lacustrine 
flood  as  the  occasion.  When,  in  the  course  of  time,  the  high 
waters  subsided,  the  lake  bottom  was  left  exposed.  It  lay  a 
barren  Avaste  until  the  seeds  of  vegetation  were  distributed 
over  it  by  natural  means.  Birds  and  winds  were  the  principal 
agents  ;  but  these  agents  transport  only  the  lighter  seeds — the 
seeds  of  grasses  and  herbs.  The  forest  was  standing  thrifty 
and  green  around  the  border  of  the  ancient  lake,  but  its 
seeds  found  little  opportunity  to  gain  foothold  on  the  old  lake- 
bottom.  The  Indian  was  here.  He  had  paddled  his  canoe  in 
the  waters  above  the  soil  which  was  now  a  prairie.  When 
the  grasses  and  herbs  had  been  browned  by  the  first  frosts  of 
Autumn,  the  Indian's  torch  set  them  ablaze.  The  air  was 
filled  with  smoke  during  the  dry  and  sunny,  days  which  fol- 
low the  killing  frosts.  The  west  wind  wafted  the  smoke  to 
New  England,  and  our  ancestors  said,  "The  Indian  Summer 
is  here."  But  the  burning  killed  the  shoots  of  the  young 
trees  without  injuiring  the  roots  of  the  grasses  and  sedges. 
So  when  May  covered  the  surface  again  with  green,  the 
grasses  were  there,  but  the  woody  shoot  was  dead.  Thus  the 
prairies  remained  treeless.  When  the  emigrant  discovered  the 
Indian  at  his  annual  burning,  he  said,  "  That  is  the  explana- 
tion of  the  treelessness."  But  he  never  explained  why  the 
region  was  treeless  enough  in  the  beginning  to  allow  the  sur- 
face to  come  into  possession  of  the  grasses,  and  furnish  the 
Indian  occasion  for  the  burning. 


THE  EAETH  KECEIVES  HER  KING.  281 


EARTH:  RECEIVERS  HER  KINO. 

THE   ADVENT   OF   MAN. 

AT  some  juncture  in  the  progress  of  these  later  events, 
man  made  his  first  appearance  on  the  earth.  He  was  not 
present  during  Tertiary  periods,  in  any  portion  of  the  world 
which  has  been  subjected  to  research.  There  appears  to  have 
been  no  European  Tertiary  man,  and  no  American  Tertiary 
man.  This  conclusion  is  now  almost  universally  accepted. 

But  both  in  America  and  Europe,  man  seems  to  have  been 
present  during  a  portion  of  the  Glacial  Epoch.  American 
man  dwelt  in  California.  Along  the  Pacific  coast,  as  I  stated 
in  Talk  XL  VII,  a  milder  climate  prevented  the  prevalence 
of  universal  glaciers.  The  situation,  therefore;  may  have 
been  as  favorable  for  human  occupation  as  that  in  our  day, 
at  the  foot  of  the  glaciated  valleys  of  Switzerland.  The 
human  remains  of  California,  however,  are  found  in  situations 
which  at  first  excite  our  wonder;  for  they  lie  in  the  deep 
placers  underneath  great  tables  of  ancient  lava  (Talk  XVI, 
end).  These  lava-sheets,  in  the  judgment  of  Professor  J.  D. 
Whitney,  were  erupted  in  the  latter  part  of  the  Pliocene 
Epoch  ;  and  if  so,  man  was  a  Tertiary  resident  on  the  Pacific 
coast.  This  opinion,  I  hav£  myself  been  disposed  heretofore, 
to  adopt.  (Preadamites,  pp.  426-428).  Every  thing  depends 
on  the  epoch  of  the  lava  eruption.  That  would  be  given,  if 
the  other  fossil  remains  of  the  deep  placers  afforded  unques- 
tionable criteria  of  age.  Professor  Whitney  thinks  they  do. 
In  his  report  on  California  he  says:  "The  beds  which  were 
deposited  prior  to  the  great  volcanic  disturbance  and  conse- 
quent overflow  of  lava  throughout  the  Sierra,  inclose  a  pecu- 
liar fauna  which  we  refer  to  the  Pliocene  epoch,  and  which 
appears  to  have  some  analogy  with  the  group  of  the  same 
age  occurring  on  the  Niobrara  and  White  Rivers  and  in  their 
vicinity,  to  the  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  chain."  "Among 
the  animals  of  the  Pliocene  of  California,  or  the  group  which 
preceded  the  epoch  of  volcanic  activity,  we  recognize  the 

24 


282  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

rhinoceros,  an  animal  allied  to  the  hippopotamus,  an  extinct 
species  of  horse,  and  a  species  allied  to  the  camel  and  resem- 
bling the  Meg-a-lo-me'-ryx  of  Leidy ;  all  these  species,  so  far  as 
we  know,  are  peculiar  to  the  deposits  under  the  lava."  As  to 
the  plant  remains  found  in  the  same  beds,  Dr.  Newberry  re- 
ports that  they  are  not  older  than  the  Miocene,  and  most  re- 
semble species  found  in  the  later  European  Tertiaries.  For 
myself,  I  hardly  think  this  evidence  is  fully  conclusive  on  the 
Pliocene  age  of  the  deep  placer  gravels  with  human  relics.  I 
feel  persuaded  that  the  great  lava  eruption  was  connected 
with  the  enormous  load  of  ice  which  once  covered  the  regions 
farther  north  and  east;  and  if  so,  they  occurred  probably 
while  the  glacial  epoch  was  at  its  meridian.  Mr.  Boyd  Daw- 
kins  thinks  the  evidence  of  Pliocene  man  in  California  is  "un- 
satisfactory" because  almost  no  species  of  Pliocene  mammals 
have  survived  to  the  present,  and  the  strong  presumption  is 
afforded  that  man  is  not  an  exception. 

But  in  any  event,  American  man  existed  in  the  Glacial 
Epoch — not,  of  course,  in  the  midst  of  a  continental  glacier ; 
but  in  some  favorable  region  which  glaciation  did  not  reach. 
Much  of  the  "  far  west"  was  suitable  for  human  occupation 
at  the  time.  Great  lakes  existed  in  Oregon,  in  Utah,  and 
Nevada ;  and  they  were  populated  by  a  molluscan  fauna  not 
less  exacting  in  its  requirements  than  the  types  accompanying 
man  in  the  present  epoch.  In  eastern  America,  also,  some 
human  relics  have  been  found  which,  as  is  thought,  argue  the 
presence  of  man  in  the  Glacial  Epoch.  Dr.  C.  C.  Abbot  has 
described  some  stone  implements  in  ancient  gravel  near 
Trenton,  New  Jersey,  and  the  announcement  of  Glacial  man 
has  been  proclaimed ;  but  I  agree  with  Mr.  H.  C.  Lewis, 
that  these  gravels  are  post-glacial.  Stratified  gravels  of  the 
Drift  belong  to  the  epoch  of  the  Champlain  floods.  The  de- 
posits of  the  Glacial  Epoch,  with  local  exceptions,  are  un- 
stratified,  and  in  the  nature  of  "till."  The  Trenton  gravel 
appears  to  be  a  river-drift  deposited  during  the  flooded  stage 
of  the  Delaware. 

Human  implements  in  river-drift  gravels  are  widely  known 


THE  EARTH  EECEIVES  HER  KING.  283 

in  Europe.  They  occur  especially  along  the  valleys  of  the 
Somme,  the  Seine,  the  Thames — but  also,  in  many  other  re- 
gions. They  have  been  the  subject  of  voluminous  discussion. 
In  Brazil,  stone  implements  have  recently  been  described  in 
large  numbers  from  the  gravels  of  the  province  Rio  Gran-de 
do  Sul.  From  caverns  many  relics  have  been  obtained,  which 
throw  much  light  on  the  condition  and  associations  of  primi- 
tive men.  Numerous  other  facts  have  been  yielded  from  the 
bottoms  of  European  lakes.  It  appears  that  the  early  inhab- 
itants constructed  their  habitations  on  piles  in  the  lakes,  and 
communication  with  the  shore  was  effected  by  a  bridge  which 
could  be  readily  removed.  Some  of  these  piles  still  remain. 
Naturally,  many  articles  used  by  the  dwellers  in  these  abodes 
were  lost  in  the  water  and  never  recovered.  Many  thousands 
have  been  dredged  up  in  recent  times.  Another  source  of 
light  on  primitive  man  is  found  in  the  sea-side  accumulations 
of  kitchen-refuse — piles  of  shells  and  bones  and  organic  debris 
reaching  several  yards  in  length,  and  sometimes  eight  or  ten 
feet  high.  These  are  the  refuse  of  fishing  villages.  They 
contain  implements,  domestic  utensils,  and  personal  ornaments 
once  belonging  to  the  inhabitants.  The  peat  bogs  of  Den- 
mark and  other  countries  give  us  other  relics.  From  the 
mounds  and  other  burial  places  much  further  information  is 
obtained. 

Among  the  relics  of  these  early  settlers  in  Europe,  we  find 
many  stone  axes — some  rough  and  others  laboriously  polished. 
Flint  arrow-heads  and  lance-heads  are  very  common.  Fish- 
hooks and  other  articles  of  bone  occur  in  the  lakes  and  the 
shell-mounds.  Very  numerous  articles  of  bronze  used  for 
ornament  are  dredged  from  the  lakes — brooches,  bracelets, 
pins.  Fragments  of  pottery  occur  in  the  lakes  and  shell- 
mounds.  Woven  cloth  has  been  exhumed  from  some  of  the 
oldest  deposits ;  and  jars  of  dried  apples  and  wheat,  and  even 
cakes,  have  been  yielded  from  the  pile-habitations.  The  older 
relics  are  rudest,  as  might  be  expected;  and  consist  exclu- 
sively of  stone  and  bone.  Later,  bronze  came  into  use,  and 
the  workmanship  was  finer.  Lastly  iron  became  known. 


284  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

Archaeologists  accordingly  divide  prehistoric  time  into  three 
ages:  1.  The  AGE  OF  STONE;  which  was  subdivided  into  the 
Palceolitfiic  or  rough-stone  epoch,  and  the  Neolithic  or  polished- 
stone  epoch ;  2.  The  AGE  OF  BRONZE  ;  and  3,  the  AGE  OF 
IRON.  Within  certain  geographical  limits  these  three  ages  in 
the  progress  of  culture  are  consecutive.  But  it  must  not  be 
supposed  that  they  mark  periods  in  the  history  of  man  at 
large.  The  Age  of  Stone  is  long  past  in  Europe ;  but  it  pre- 
vailed still  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  when  discovered  by  Cap- 
tain Cook ;  and  still  prevails  among  the  Indians  of  America. 

Gathering  together  the  numerous  facts  which  supply  infor- 
mation concerning  the  primeval  inhabitants  of  Europe,  we 
are  able  to  set  the  following  inferences  in  order :  When  man 
first  made  his  advent  in  Europe,  that  continent  was  still  the 
abode  of  quadrupeds  now  long  extinct.  The  caverns  were 
shared  with  man  by  the  Cave  Bear,  the  Cave  Hysena,  and 
the  Cave  Lion.  These  gradually  gave  place  to  gigantic 
Herbivores — the  Hairy  Mammoth,  the  Hairy  Rhinoceros, 
and  the  Reindeer.  The  Mammoth  roamed  in  herds  over 
the  whole  of  Europe,  Northern  Asia,  and  North  America 
(Talk  XXVII).  The  Hairy,  or  Two-horned  Rhinoceros 
in  company  with  another  two-horned  species,  thundered 
through  the  forests  or  wallowed  in  the  jungles  and  swamps. 
The  rivers  and  lakes  of  Southern  Europe  were  tenanted  by 
the  hippopotamus  and  the  beaver.  Three  kinds  of  wild  oxen, 
two  of  which  were  of  colossal  strength,  and  one  of  these  was 
"maned  and  villous  like  the  Bonassus,"  grazed  with  the  mar- 
mot and  wild  goat  and  chamois  upon  the  hills  and  plains 
which  skirt  the  Mediterranean.  The  musk-ox  and  the  rein- 
deer browsed  in  the  meadows  of  Perigord,  in  the  south  of 
France,  while  a  gigantic  elk  ranged  from  Ireland  to  the  bor- 
ders of  Italy. 

From  similar  evidences,  we  learn  that  primitive  man  in 
America  was  also  the  contemporary  of  quadrupeds  now  long 
extinct.  Beneath  the  lava  of  California,  the  bones  of  the 
mammoth  and  mastodon  and  the  broad-faced  ox  lie  mingled 
with  the  bones  and  implements  of  man.  East  of  the  Rocky 


THE  EARTH  RECEIVES  HER  KING.  285 

Mountains,  the  relics  of  the  ancient  proboscidians  have  often 
been  discovered  in  such  association  with  human  relics  as  to 
afford  strong  evidence  of  contemporaneity.  On  the  banks  of 
the  Ashley  River  in  South  Carolina,  human  bones,  arrow- 
heads, hatchets  and  potsherds  are  found  mingled  with  bones 
of  the  hog,  the  horse,  the  mastodon,  and  extinct  gigantic  liz- 
ards. In  the  same  epoch  lived  the  wide-faced  bison,  the 
shrub-loving  tapir  and  a  gigantic  beaver,  and  a  number  of 
gigantic  Edentates — wanderers  from  South  America. 

If,  from  the  monuments  which  these  primitive  people  have 
left  behind,  we  attempt  to  form  an  estimate  of  their  physical, 
intellectual,  and  moral  characteristics,  we  become  at  once 
convinced  that  in  their  cranial  characters  they  were  equal  in 
rank  to  the  average  races  of  modern  times.  Beyond  all  ques- 
tion, they  were  no  connecting  links  between  man  and  lower 
animals.  The  evidences  of  their  intelligence  place  them  as 
high  as  the  Esquimaux.  In  mechanical  skill  they  were 
equal  to  the  manufacture  of  a  large  assortment  of  imple- 
ments of  stone  and  bone.  Before  the  close  of  the  Stone  Age, 
they  produced  many  evidences  of  an  aesthetic  faculty.  They 
polished  their  stone  axes,  and  worked  their  arrow  and  lance 
heads  after  more  elaborate  and  artistic  patterns.  Their  pot- 
tery began  to  receive  some  crude  decorations.  They  carved 
the  bone  and  horn  handles  of  some  of  their  weapons.  They 
engraved  on  slate,  ivory,  and  bone  the  figures  of  familiar  ani- 
mals; and  among  these  portraits  are  sketches  of  the  hairy 
elephant,  furnishing  further  evidence  of  their  contemporane- 
ous possession  of  the  forest  and  the  plain.  These  men  also, 
possessed  a  religious  nature.  There  are  certain  emblems  and 
objects  which,  by  general  admission,  must  receive  a  religious 
interpretation.  The  care  bestowed  on  the  dead  evinces  a  be- 
lief that  even  after  death  they  retained  relations  of  love  and 
recognition.  They  sent  them  on  their  mysterious  journey 
with  such  offerings  and  supplies  as  should  meet  their  neces- 
sities. The  idea  of  future  life  dwelt  in  their  breasts ;  even 
these  poor  fore-runners  of  our  humanity  dreamed  of  a  happy 
world  beyond  the  pains  and  trials  of  mortal  dissolution. 


286  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

They  felt  the  notion  of  a  Supreme  Divinity  stirring  within 
them.  A  little  later  they  erected  altars  and  built  rude  tem- 
ples. The  paraphernalia  and  accessories  of  worship  imply  a 
Being  worthy  of  worship.  The  Stone  Folk  of  Europe  were 
every  way  MEN. 

Who  were  they?  And  whence  did  they  come?  The 
latest  researches  show  their  skulls  to  possess  affinities  with  the 
Mongoloid  race.  They  were  not  members  of  the  White  race. 
Modern  Europeans  are  not  descended  from  them ;  but  un- 
doubtedly their  blood  mingles  with  that  of  Europeans,  and 
some  ethnologists  think  the  different  types  of  prehistoric  peo- 
ple can  be  detected  in  the  populations  of  different  parts  of 
Europe.  On  the  whole,  there  are  many  reasons  for  believing 
the  stone  folk  nearly  related  to  modern  Esquimaux  and 
Laplanders. 

But  when  we  shall  have  reached  every  possible  conclusion 
from  the  study  of  prehistoric  Europeans,  we  lack  much  of 
penetrating  the  mystery  of  the  human  species  at  large.  These 
men  were  not  the  first  men  who  ever  lived.  They  came  from 
somewhere.  If  they  were  Mongoloids,  they  came,  in  all  prob- 
ability, from  Asia.  Whoever  they  were,  they  had  spread 
over  all  Europe,  Asia,  and  North  Africa  before  the  first  white 
men  visited  those  regions — apparently  as  early  as  4000  B.  C. 
The  Pelasgic  empire  was  at  its  meridian  about  2500  B.  C. ; 
and  the  Pelasgians  were  the  first  descendants  of  Noah  who 
penetrated  beyond  the  borders  of  Asia.  These  primitive  Mon- 
goloids, known  to  antiquity  as  Cyclopes,  had  dispersed  them- 
selves over  America  probably  at  a  date  equally  remote. 

Beyond  these  general  determinations  we  have  neither  his- 
tory, tradition,  or  monuments  to  light  our  path.  The  succes- 
sive migrations  of  families  of  the  White  Kace  from  Asia  into 
Europe  are  fairly  well  cleared  up.  We  follow  first  the  Ha- 
mites  (Pelasgian  Egyptians),  then  the  Semites  (Phoenicians, 
Tyrians,  Carthaginians)  and  lastly  the  Japhetites  (Thracians, 
Hellenes,  Ligures,  Ombro-Latins,  Kelts).  But  what  were 
the  genetic  relations  between  these  Asiatic  peoples  and  the 
Asiatic  Mongoloids?  Whence  came  the  White  and  Mongo- 


THE  EARTH  EECEIVES  HER  KING.  287 

loid  races  into  Asia  ?  What  relations  do  they  or  either  of 
them  sustain  to  the  Australians — leathery  skinned  and  curly- 
haired  ;  to  the  Papuans — black  and  tuft-haired ;  to  the  Hot- 
tentots— coffee-colored  and  kinky-haired ;  to  the  Negroes — 
ebony-black  and  woolly-haired  ?  What  is  the  relative  rank 
of  these  several  races?  When  did  they  severally  begin  to 
exist  ?  Where  did  the  first  men  appear  ?  Who  was  Adam  ? 
Are  all  these  peoples  descended  from  Adam  ?  These  are  in- 
teresting questions  which  strike  us  at  this  point,  and  are 
worthy  of  study  ;  but  I  do  not  regard  it  expedient  to  enter 
upon  them  at  the  present  time.  The  reader  who  may  desire 
to  see  what  can  be  said  about  them,  may  consult  "Preadam- 
ites;  or,  a  Demonstration  of  the  Existence  of  Men  before 
Adam" — a  work  which  is  essentially  a  commentary  on  portions 
of  Genesis  and  a  vindication  of  Biblical  ethnography. 


III. 
RETROSPECT; 

OR, 

HOW  THE  STORY  OF  THE  WORLD  IMPRESSES  US. 


Iv.  THE  ABYSS  OK*  CENTURIES. 

THE   AGE  OP   THE  WORLD. 

WE  stand  finally  at  the  end  of  the  world's  long  history. 
From  fire-mist  to  man — we  have  flitted  in  thought,  and  have 
taken  some  note  of  the  grand  events  of  each  aeon.  We  pause 
now,  to  indulge  in  reflections.  How  inexpressibly  magnifi- 
cent a  career !  How  inconceivably  vast  the  stretches  of  space 
and  time  which  it  spans!  How  many  centuries  must  have 
been  swallowed  up  in  the  stately  transformations  of  the  origi- 
nal nebula !  There  are  other  nebulae  in  our  modern  universe, 
and  we  gaze  on  them  from  year  to  year,  and  fail  to  note  the 
progress  of  any  change.  But  they  are  changing  before  our 
eyes ;  and  we  are  beginning  to  record  some  slight  variations 
from  their  first  observed  aspects.  How  long  a  time  is  re- 
quired for  one  revolution  of  a  mass  of  nebular  vapor  a  hun- 
dred billions  of  miles  in  diameter,  who  can  calculate?  Who 
guess  ?  How  long  to  reach  the  ring-making  rate  of  rotation — 
how  long  to  throw  off  a  system  of  planets  and  condense 
to  a  sun  ? 

Yet  there  are  some  data  for  a  calculation.  I  might  even 
lead  you  to  understand  what  are  the  grounds  of  a  mathemat- 
ical estimate,  but  it  would  too  much  lengthen  this  Talk.  Pro- 
fessor Newcomb  has  calculated  that  the  heat  evolved  by  the 
contraction  of  the  matter  of  the  sun  from  an  infinite  distance 
would  last  only  eighteen  million  years.  He  assumes  the  sun's 
288 


THE  ABYSS  OF  CENTURIES.  289 

matter  to  have  been  infinitely  dispersed,  and  assumes  that  all 
the  heat  ever  existing  in  the  contracting  mass  arose  from  the 
process  of  contraction.  Of  course,  if  the  sun's  matter — in 
other  words,  the  matter  of  our  primitive  nebula — did  not  ex- 
tend an  infinite  distance,  the  time  for  contraction  would  be 
shortened.  He  says  a  temperature  permitting  the  existence 
of  water  on  the  earth  would  have  been  reached  ten  million 
years  ago. 

Professor  Newcomb  calculates  further,  that  the  sun  in  its 
process  of  cooling  will  reach  a  darkened  or  planetary  state  in 
twelve  million  years.  So  the  whole  life-time  of  the  sun  from 
infinitely  expanded  fire-mist  to  final  darkness,  spans  only 
thirty  million  years. 

Sir  William  Thomson  has  calculated  the  time  required  for 
the  earth  to  cool  from  incipient  incrustation  to  its  present 
state.  He  thinks  it  would  not  exceed  eighty  million  years. 
Kev.  O.  Fisher,  in  making  the  same  calculation  deduces  thirty- 
three  million  years.  These  estimates  do  not  cover  precisely 
the  same  stage  of  cooling  as  either  of  Newcomb's,  but  the 
numbers  appear  to  be  relatively  higher. 

Another  way  of  getting  at  the  length  of  any  particular 
period  of  the  world — for  instance,  the  time  elapsed  since  the  close 
of  the  Tertiary — is  first  to  compute  the  relative  duration  of 
the  different  ages  on  the  basis  of  thickness  of  formations,  and 
then  divide  some  assumed  total  age  in  the  same  proportion  as 
the  relative  ages.  To  make  this  plainer:  A  formation  two 
hundred  feet  thick  has  probably  consumed  more  time  than  a 
formation  one  hundred  feet  thick.  We  do  not  know  whether 
the  rate  of  accumulation  was  the  same  for  the  two  formations, 
but  we  must  assume  it  the  same,  if  the  materials  are  the  same  ; 
if  however,  one  is  of  limestone  and  the  other  of  fragmental 
materials  (sand,  pebbles,  clay)  we  may  assume  the  rate  of 
accumulation  five  times  as  great  for  the  latter  as  for  the  lime- 
stone. Thus  the  formation  one  hundred  feet  thick,  of  lime- 
stone would  be  equivalent  in  time  to  500  feet  of  sandstone. 
Now,  we  have  carefully  studied  the  thickness  of  all  the  for- 
mations, making  due  allowance  for  all  the  limestones.  We 

25 


290  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

have  an  aggregate  thickness,  and  the  thickness  of  each  Group, 
System  and  Great  System  of  strata.  If  we  assume  the  whole 
time  represented  in  these  formations  to  be  eighty  million  years, 
then  the  duration  of  the  Eozoic  jEon  was  eleven  million 
years ;  the  duration  of  the  Coal  Peroid,  two  and  a  half  mill- 
ions, the  duration  of  the  Mesozoic,  eight  millions ;  of  the 
Caenezoic  two  and  a  half  millions,  and  the  time  since  the  close 
of  the  Tertiary,  half  a  million;  the  Glacial  period  endured 
352,000  years  and  the  post-glacial  interval  has  been  176,000 
years.  If  we  make  Newcomb's  calculations  the  basis  of  an 
estimate,  all  the  above  intervals  will  be  reduced  to  one-sixth. 
The  post-glacial  period  will  be  30,000  years.  These  are,  to  a 
large  extent,  random  results;  but  they  show,  at  least,  that 
the  history  of  the  world  is  embraced  within  a  finite  space 
of  time. 

Another  method  of  gaining  some  conception  of  the  length 
of  geological  periods  is  based  chiefly  on  changes  in  the  eccen- 
tricity of  the  earth's  orbit.  The  earth's  path  about  the  sun, 
as  you  remember,  is  an  ellipse.  But  this  ellipse  is  constantly 
varying  its  elongation.  For  many  centuries  it  increases  its 
elongation,  and  then  for  many  centuries  diminishes  it.  It  was 
shown  by  James  Croll  that  when  the  eccentricity  (elongation) 
is  greatest,  the  climates  of  the  earth  must  be  affected  in  such 
a  way  as  to  lower  the  mean  temperature  of  the  northern 
hemisphere.  He  contends  that  the  advent  of  the  Glacial  age 
was  due  to  a  state  of  maximum  eccentricity.  But  the  changes 
in  eccentricity  are  subject  to  a  law  by  which  the  epochs  of 
maximum  eccentricity  have  been  calculated.  The  last  max- 
imum occurred  100,000  years  ago,  and  the  next  preceding, 
210,000  years  ago.  Mr.  Croll  thinks,  therefore,  that  the 
Glacial  period  began  about  240,000  years  ago,  and  continued 
to  80,000  years  ago,  with  a  mild  interglacial  epoch  150,000 
years  ago.  Now,  if  Mr.  Croll  is  right  in  ascribing  glacial 
periods  primarily  to  maximum  eccentricity,  it  would  appear 
that  the  decline  of  continental  glaciation  took  place  about 
80,000  years  since.  This  high  number  is  not  confirmed  by 
any  of  the  other  methods  of  computation.  There  is  nothing 


THE  ABYSS  OF  CENTURIES.  291 

to  sustain  so  high  a  figure  except  the  general  guesses  of  cer- 
tain people  who  "entertain  no  doubt  that  man  has  been  on 
the  earth  one  or  two  hundred  thousand  years." 

The  problem  may  be  attacked  in  quite  a  different  way. 
We  have  noted  vast  erosions  which  have  taken  place  during 
the  history  of  the  world.  If  we  could  only  obtain  a  clew  to 
the  rate  of  any  one  of  these  erosions,  we  could  soon  calculate 
how  much  time  was  required  for  the  work.  Now,  the  Niagara 
gorge  presents  a  specific  and  measurable  amount  of  work ;  and, 
if  we  can  determine  how  much  of  that  work  is  accomplished 
yearly,  we  shall  have  the  age  of  the  gorge.  This  problem  is 
so  intelligible  that  it  has  received  the  attention  of  many  in- 
vestigators. But  their  results  have  been  widely  divergent. 
The  whole  gorge  is  seven  miles  long.  Mr.  Robert  Bake  well 
made  its  age  12,300  years.  Messrs.  Lyell  and  Hall  made  it 
35,000  years.  Mr.  E.  Desor,  who  assumed  much  too  low  a 
rate  of  erosion,  assigned  1,232,000  years.  Mr.  Jules  Marcou 
found  data  to  make  it  64,842  years.  These  wide  discrepancies 
arise  from  the  difficulty  of  ascertaining  the  rate  of  recession. 
Within  a  few  years  that  has  been  well  settled  at  about  three 
feet  a  year.  Professor  James  Hall,  in  1842,  caused  to  be  made 
a  trigonometrical  survey  of  the  falls,  and  fixed  permanent  land- 
marks. In  1875,  Mr.  James  Gardner,  Director  of  the  New 
York  State  Trigonometrical  Survey,  repeated  the  survey  of  the 
Falls,  and  ascertained  that  there  had  been  a  recession  of  at 
least  one  hundred  feet  in  thirty-three  years.  This  rate  would 
give  12,300  years  as  the  age  of  the  whole  gorge,  from  Lewis- 
ton.  The  three  miles  below  the  "whirlpool,"  where  the  new 
gorge  intercepted  the  old  one,  would  have  required  5,280 
years.  As  we  may  fairly  assume  that  the  old  gorge  extended 
some  distance  above  the  whirlpool,  we  may  conclude  that  the 
work  of  the  modern  river  has  extended  over  a  period  between 
5,280  and  12,300  years.  From  what  I  have  stated  in  Talk 
XL VIII,  you  will  understand  that  the  work  of  the  modern 
river  is  post-glacial  work,  and  these  numbers  concern  the 
duration  of  the  post-glacial  period. 

I  have  said  that  the  old  gorge  from  St.  David's  was  the 


292  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

work  of  Mesozoic  and  Caenozoic  time ;  but  the  whole  length 
of  that  gorge,  even  up  to  the  present  site  of  the  Falls — only 
about  six  miles — is  far  too  little  work  for  such  a  river  as  the 
Niagara  to  have  performed  in  the  million  or  more  years  which 
we  allow  for  that  time.  I  will,  therefore,  now  make  the 
statement  that  only  a  part  of  the  water  which  came  into  the 
basin  of  Lake  Erie  (a  mere  river  then)  found  its  outlet  by  St. 
David's.  There  seems  to  have  been,  at  one  time,  an  outlet 
through  the  Cuyahoga  Eiver,  whose  bed  at  Cleveland  is  two 
hundred  feet  below  its  present  bed,  and  perhaps  for  many 
ages,  the  whole  stream  was  carried  off  in  that  direction  to  the 
Ohio.  There  seems  to  have  been  also,  at  some  time,  an  out- 
let to  the  basin  of  Lake  Ontario,  from  the  mouth  of  Grand 
River  of  Canada.  Possibly  the  drainage  passed  through  one 
or  the  other  of  these  channels  during  most  of  Mesozoic  and 
Csenozoic  time. 

The  recession  of  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  has  been  studied 
by  Professor  N.  H.  Winchell.  This,  he  maintains,  is  also  a 
post-glacial  erosion  as  far  as  Fort  Snelling.  From  the  study 
of  old  documents  he  ascertains  that  the  rate  of  recession  from 
1680  to  1856  was  about  5.15  feet  a  year.  As  the  whole  dis- 
tance is  eight  miles,  the  time  required  is  8,202  years. 

A  thorough  scientific  survey  of  the  Mississippi,  by  author- 
ity of  the  general  government,  was  concluded  some  years  ago 
by  Messrs.  Humphreys  and  Abbot.  They  calculated  that 
5,000  years  had  been  required  for  the  accumulation  of  the 
Mississippi  Delta.  This  assumes,  of  course,  uniformity  in  the 
rate  of  deposition,  while  it  was  probably  more  rapid  during 
the  rainy  Champlain  period ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  in- 
terval expressed  reaches  from  the  close  of  the  glacial  reign, 
not  from  its  "acme"  as  in  the  calculation  on  the  Falls  of  St. 
Anthony. 

Similarly  the  age  of  the  Nile  delta  has  been  set  down  at 
6,350  years. 

A  very  ingenious  calculation  of  the  length  of  post-glacial 
time  has  been  based  by  Dr.  E.  Andrews  on  the  rate  of  bluff- 
erosion  and  terrace  formation  near  Chicago.  North  of  Chicago 


THE  ABYSS  OF  CENTURIES.  293 

the  lake  is  wearing  away  a  bluff  at  a  rate  which  has  been 
ascertained.  The  submerged  stump  of  the  bluff  permits  a 
measurement  of  the  whole  cubic  contents  removed.  From 
this  and  the  rate  of  erosion,  the  time  required  appears  to  be 
2,720  years.  The  material  of  the  bluff  was  deposited  in  a  ter- 
race at  the  south  end  of  the  lake,  and  this,  therefore,  has  the 
same  age  as  the  erosive  process.  Next,  he  finds  above  the 
bluff,  at  a  higher  level,  two  sand  beaches  which  must  have 
been  deposited  when  the  lakes  were  at  flood.  How  long  a 
time  was  required  for  their  deposition?  By  comparing  their 
volume  with  that  of  the  sand  beach  at  the  south  end  of  the 
lake,  whose  age  is  known  as  2,720  years,  he  finds  the  high 
beaches  required  about  2,570  years.  Therefore,  from  the  be- 
ginning of  high  water  to  the  present,  the  interval  is  expressed 
by  the  sum  of  the  age  of  the  upper  beaches  and  the  age  of 
the  erosion,  that  is  5,290  years.  Dr.  Andrews  thinks  the  real 
interval  is  somewhere  between  5,300  and  7,500  years. 

As  the  upper  beaches  must  have  worn  away  to  some  ex- 
tent during  their  prolonged  exposure ;  their  age  is  somewhat 
greater  than  Dr.  Andrews  has  estimated.  Making  allowance 
for  this,  the  result  is  not  far  from  that  based  on  the  recession 
of  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony. 

We  have  then  several  results  based  on  rates  of  erosion, 
which  stand  satisfactorily  accordant.  For  myself,  these  meth- 
ods appear  more  reliable  than  those  depending  on  mathemat- 
ical calculations.  The  results  of  mathematics  are  so  precise 
and  demonstrative  when  the  data  are  adequate,  that  we  are 
tempted  to  trust  them.  But  very  slight  errors  in  the  con- 
stants assumed  often  lead  to  enormous  errors  in  the  result; 
and  it  must  be  admitted  that  we  discover  too  many  chances 
of  error  in  the  data  involved  in  mathematical  calculations 
respecting  the  age  of  the  world,  to  feel  that  the  results  are 
trustworthy,  or  equally  trustworthy  with  the  results  based 
on  observed  data  which  bear  a  larger  ratio  to  the  unknown 
quantity. 


294  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 


1,1.  THE  METHOD  OK  CREATION. 

THE   QUESTION   OF   EVOLUTION. 

LET  us  suppose  Matter,  Energy,  and  Law  in  existence. 
This  stupendous  system  of  things  which  we  have  been  contem- 
plating implies  the  reality  of  some  substance  which  is  the  un- 
derlying ground  of  its  being.  It  is  a  system  of  things,  not  of 
'names.  It  implies  the  exercise  of  power,  or  force ;  for  out  of 
matter,  something  has  been  formed,  and  the  forms  of  matter 
have  been  changed.  It  implies  the  existence  of  method ;  for 
forms  exist  in  certain  fixed  relations  to  each  other,  and 
changes  occur  in  some  regular  order  of  succession ;  and  an 
ordained  and  established  correlation  of  forms  or  order  of  suc- 
cession is  a  law.  Matter,  energy,  and  method  (law)  came 
into  existence  somehow  ;  let  us  grant  that — but  we  need  not 
here  inquire  how  they  came  to  exist.  It  is  only  the  nature  of 
the  method  or  law,  in  accordance  with-  which  energy  shapes 
matter  and  determines  successions  of  forms  and  events,  that 
we  are  to  consider.  What  is  Nature's  fundamental  method? 

Allow  me  first  to  enunciate  the  method.  I  will  then  pro- 
ceed to  cite  facts  which  will  both  illustrate  and  establish  the 
proposition.  Nature's  fundamental  method  is  a  procedure,  through 
continuity,  from  the  general  to  the  particular.  Do  not  be  alarmed 
at  the  form  of  the  phrase  which  conciseness  and  accuracy  of 
statement  necessitate.  The  idea  is  very  simple,  and  you  will 
soon  perceive  it  so.  By  "continuity,"!  mean  that  Nature 
retains  the  same  matter  in  bringing  into  existence  many  modi- 
fications in  succession ;  she  does  not  drop  and  abandon  the 
matter  of  one  conformation  when  she  proceeds  to  another; 
but  she  retains  the  same  matter,  and  modifies  it  into  the  new 
conformation.  The  frog,  for  instance,  is  the  tadpole  modified. 
An  apple  is  a  full-grown  element  which  existed  in  the  flower, 
and  in  the  bud.  By  proceeding  "from  the  general  to  the 
particular,"  I  mean  that  each  modification  of  matter,  in  a 
series  of  modifications,  contains  some  added  features,  together 
with  a  clearer  exhibition  of  the  older  features.  As  when  a 
house  is  to  be  built,  the  rough  frame  is  first  constructed — 


THE  METHOD  OF  CREATION.  295 

the  corner-posts,  the  upright  timbers,  the  joists,  the  rafters, 
the  partition  studs.  Then  come  the  flooring,  the  lathing,  the 
siding,  and  the  roof  boards.  Next,  the  plastering,  the  base- 
boards, the  casings,  the  doors,  the  windows.  Finally,  the 
painting,  the  graining,  and  the  decorations.  Here  the  pro- 
cedure is  by  continuity,  and  from  general  to  particular.  That 
is,  the  material  employed  in  first  rough  outline  remains,  and 
the  modifications  consist  in  the  addition  of  successive  details- 
and  particulars.  Now  this  is  Nature's  method  as  well  as 
man's.  I  think  I  can  show  you  that  such  is  the  case. 

Consider  first,  the  realm  of  inorganic  matter.  I  think  we 
are  entitled  to  trace  the  train  of  events  back  to  a  disseminated 
cosmical  dust,  which  reveals  its  existence  in  meteors,  comets, 
and  nebulae.  Reflect  then,  that  the  same  matter  which  floated 
cold  in  space,  appeared  later  as  a  fire-mist,  then  -a  planetary 
ring,  then  a  darkened  planet,  a  solid  continent,  a  tree,  or  a 
human  body.  It  is  a  wonderful  thought ;  but  I  believe  we 
must  admit  its  truth.  Here  is  continuity.  Then  notice  the 
other  conception  in  Nature,  jnethod,  specialization.  The  first 
condition  of  matter  was  chaotic ;  no  form  was  outlined  in  it. 
Little  less  chaotic  was  the  nebulous  or  fire-mist  stage.  The 
idea  of  limits  and  form  began  to  be  expressed.  When  a  ring 
was  abandoned;  when  two  spheres  existed,  some  advance  in 
detail  was  achieved.  Still  more  when  other  rings,  other 
spheres — primary  and  secondary,  came  in  due  order,  as  modi- 
fications out  of  the  original  matter.  The  progress  of  each 
separate  planetary  sphere  carried  forward  the  method  of 
specialization.  The  earth,  for  example,  was  fire-mist;  then  a 
molten  globe  with  a  mixed  atmosphere;  then  an  incrusting 
globe ;  then  an  incrusted  globe  with  an  ocean  film  about  it;  then 
all  this  with  emergent  nuclei  of  continents;  then  further 
emergences,  with  added  layers  of  rocks ;  and  then  an  atmos- 
pheric specialization  by  the  separation  of  carbon  and  a  new 
kind  of  rock ;  then  further  emergences  and  more  complicated 
rock  arrangements;  then  a  detailed  sculpturing  and  rough 
wastage  of  the  land ;  then  the  glacial  repair  of  the  land  ; 
then  a  continuance  of  erosive  and  modifying  actions,  to  the 


296  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

present  time.  The  continent  grew  by  continuity,  and  im- 
proved by  ever  increasing  specialization.  The  great  delta 
started  at  a  point  and  grew  by  additions  to  itself,  and  by 
ever  widening  relations  to  the  land,  and  ever  increasing  com- 
plications of  structure.  So  every  feature  of  the  earth  grew. 
The  whole  history  of  the  physical  world  exemplifies  a  method 
of  specialization  tftrough  continuity. 

Consider  next,  the  realm  of  organic  matter.  Under  what 
method  does  Nature  produce  an  animal  or  a  plant?  By 
what  method  has  the  world  been  populated?  What  method 
has  been  pursued  in  the  geological  succession  of  organic  forms 
which  we  have  passed  in  review  ? 

To  learn  by  what  method  Nature  produces  an  animal,  we 
must  trace  its  history  from  the  earliest  condition  in  which  it 
exists.  Every  animal  exists  first  as  an  egg — that  is,  a  certain 
amount  of  yolk  with  an  included  cell  in  which  is  a  point 
where  the  force  is  seated  which  we  will  call  "vital,"  and 
which,  though  inscrutrable,  is  the  essential  part  of  the  egg. 
In  viviparous  animals,  the  eggs  are  developed  within  the 
parent.  In  any  order  of  animals,  when  the  conditions  are 
suitable,  the  yolk,  whether  of  an  external  or  an  internal  egg, 
begins  to  undergo  changes.  The  yolk,  or  a  portion  of  it, 
divides  into  two  parts ;  then  each  of  these,  into  two  ;  and  this 
subdivision  proceeds  until  the  whole  yolk,  or  the  divided  por- 
tion of  it,  is  a  mass  of  globules  aggregated  together,  and  pre- 
senting the  appearance  of  a  mulberry.  On  and  within  this 
mass,  a  disc  (blastoderm)  appears,  consisting  of  two  layers, 
the  upper  (epiblast)  formed  of  nucleated  cells,  and  the  lower 
(mesoblast)  of  irregularly  rounded  cells.  From  the  upper  are 
destined  to  be  developed  the  skin  and  walls  of  the  body, 
together  with  the  nervous  chord ;  from  the  lower,  the  heart 
and  vascular  system,  the  stomach  and  intestines.  I  will  only 
mention  a  few  features  in  the  development.  The  lower  layer 
undergoes  progressive  changes.  We  perceive  the  faintest 
rudiments  of  head  and  tail,  and  abdominal  cavity.  The  out- 
lines of  the  neural  canal  appear,  and  of  some  of  the  first  ver- 
tebrae. Now  the  lower  layer  splits,  and  one  part  proceeds  to 


THE  METHOD  OF  CREATION.  297 

form  the  body  walls  and  the  other  the  digestive  organs.  Some 
curious  accessory  parts  appear.  Next,  the  divisions  of  the 
brain-regions  appear,  and  the  vertebrae  increase  in  number. 
The  heart  begins  to  beat  as  a  flask-shaped  organ ;  two  aortse 
result  from  its  division ;  and  other  blood-vessels  arise,  but 
only  of  a  temporary  character.  Blood  cells  appear ;  the  sec- 
ond and  third  divisions  of  the  brain  are  differentiated ;  also, 
the  beginnings  of  eyes  and  ears.  Bronchial  fissures  appear  in 
the  sides  of  the  neck.  Thus  the  development  proceeds.  I 
wish  to  mention  only  details  enough  to  show  that  the  embry- 
onic history  of  an  animal  is  a  fine  exemplification  of  Nature's 
method — material  continuity,  and  progress  from  the  more 
general  to  the  more  detailed.  The  history  of  the  individual 
is  often  called  Ontog'eny. 

But  what  now,  of  the  assemblage  of  animals  living  on  the 
earth?  There  are  many  different  species;  there  are  very 
divergent  classes;  has  not  each  separate  species,  or  at  least, 
class,  had  a  separate  beginning  ?  Let  us  consider.  There  are 
no  two  animals  precisely  alike.  There  is  diversity  in  a  single 
litter  of  kittens.  There  are  no  two  men  or  women  precisely 
alike.  Even  the  same  man  differs  from  himself  as  a  boy  or  a 
babe,  and  differs  to  a  very  great  extent.  But  two  persons, 
though  differing,  may  be  brothers;  and  though  differing  they 
may  have  very  pronounced  family  resemblances.  Two  men 
who  are  cousins  may  show  less  distinct  resemblance  because 
their  relationship  is  more  remote,  as  we  would  explain  it ;  but 
still  there  is  a  real  resemblance ;  and  we  feel  safe  in  declaring 
it  to  arise  from  a  real  blood-relationship.  So  all  the  members 
of  the  Napoleon  family,  or  the  Potter  family,  may  show  some 
common  cast  of  features  which  reveals  their  blood  affinity. 
We  feel  sure  of  this. 

Similar  family  resemblances  may  be  traced  among  lower 
animals.  Take  the  domestic  cats ;  how  wide  their  divergences, 
yet  how  close  their  resemblances.  These  animals  we  know 
possess  a  common  lineage,  and  by  that  we  explain  their  resem- 
blances, in  spite  of  their  divergences.  But  in  -the  cat-family 
at  large,  are  several  other  forms  which  differ  from  the  domestic 


298  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

cats  only  in  the  same  way  as  the  latter  differ  among  them- 
selves. The  ground  for  asserting  that  the  panther,  the  leopard, 
the  tiger,  the  ocelot  are  descended  from  some  common  ancestry  is 
precisely  the  same  as  for  maintaining,  among  domestic  cats  the 
common  ancestry  of  the  brindled  Tabby,  the  tortoise-shell 
Spanish,  the  slaty  Chartreuse,  the  short-tailed  Malayan,  and 
the  tailless  Manx.  The  analogies  compel  us  to  admit  that  all 
the  members  of  the  cat-family  are  related  by  blood.  We  must 
say  the  same  of  the  dog-family,  and  of  the  other  families 
which  include  the  horse,  the  ox,  the  sheep,  the  squirrel,  and 
also,  the  families  of  the  lower  classes,  Birds,  Keptiles,  and 
Fishes. 

But  it  is  impossible  to  stop  here.  The  Lynx  family  and 
the  Cat  family  do  not  differ  more  than  Africans  and  Europeans ; 
there  is  the  same  reason  for  recognizing  in  them  a  common 
descent.  So  of  the  dog-family  and  the  hyaena-family.  So  of 
the  perch  and  sun-fish  families.  So  of  all  families.  And  now 
to  make  the  matter  short,  for  lack  of  space,  I  venture  to  state 
in  general,  that  in  the  structural  affinities  of  all  animals — 
certainly  those  of  the  same  sub-kingdom — we  have  relation- 
ships which  justify  the  inference  of  common  genealogical  de- 
scent. The  differences  have  arisen  partly  from  differences  in 
situation  and  a  tendency  in  the  organism  to  vary  in  the  direc- 
tion of  better  adaptation  to  the  environment. 

What  next,  of  the  succession  of  animals  in  geologic  time  ? 
I  think  you  are  ready  to  admit  that  the  succession  is  a  real 
progress.  I  think  you  will  admit  in  several  instances,  the 
graduation  from  lower  to  higher  is  shown  to  proceed  by  very 
short  steps.  Consider  especially,  the  horse-series,  and  the  two 
series  reaching  from  reptiles  to  birds  (stru'thious  and  carinate) 
(Talk  XLV).  Remember  that  these  are  only  instances  out 
of  many  which  are  similar  in  meaning,  though  less  striking 
in  completeness.  Consider  the  probability  that  if  the  record 
of  extinct  life  were  fully  restored,  we  should  recognize  the 
entire  succession  as  a  nicely  graduated  series,  with  numerous 
diverging  branches  also  nicely  graduated — the  whole  reaching 
from  some  primeval  type  through  many  ramifications,  to  the 


THE  METHOD  OF  CREATION.  299 

diversified  forms  of  the  present  epoch.  That  is  the  conclusion 
toward  which  we  are  tending;  and  it  is  wiser  to  anticipate 
and  welcome  it  than  to  turn  our  backs  on  it  when  we  see  it 
looming  in  sight. 

Suppose  then  that  animals  have  succeeded  each  other  in 
nicely  graduated  series ;  that  does  not  demonstrate  any  genea- 
logical connection  between  them ;  it  only  permits  us  to  accept 
a  theory  of  such  connection.  Each  separate  form  in  the  suc- 
cession may  have  been  a  separate  origination.  I  ask  you  then 
to  turn  to  another  set  of  facts — very  remarkable  and  very 
suggestive.  I  refer  to  comparative  embryology.  A  careful  study 
of  many  developing  embryos,  amongst  animals  of  all  ranks, 
leads  to  the  following  conclusions:  1.  Every  embryo  passes 
through  the  same  identical  series  of  stages,  up  to  the  point 
where  it  becomes  adult.  The  higher  embryos,  therefore,  pass 
through  a  longer  series,  the  lower,  a  shorter  series.  2.  The 
embryonic  gradations  are  the  same  as  the  gradations  of  the 
animal  kingdom  -presented  in  a  classification.  One  of  the 
primitive  states  of  the  embryo  corresponds  to  the  lowest 
known  type  of  animal;  the  next  state,  to  the  type  next 
superior;  and  so  on.  The  human  embryo,  in  the  progress  of 
development,  resembles  an  Amoeba,  a  Brachiopod,  a  Worm,  a 
Lancelet,  a  Shark,  a  Quadruped.  Ihese  are  not  fancies,  but 
solid  facts ;  and  it  is  our  business  to  find  out  what  they  mean. 
3.  The  succession  of  extinct  animals  presents  a  gradation 
which  is  closely  analogous  to  that  presented  in  the  gradations 
of  living  animals,  and  again  in  the  embryonic  stages  of  every 
individual.  We  have  thus  the  same  succession  of  ideas  three 
times  repeated.  Does  that  show  any  connection  between  the 
successions,  so  that  one  may  have  been  derived  from  and 
caused  by  another?  Or  shall  we  say  this  is  all  coincidence? 
Believing  in  intelligible  relationship  of  things,  I  choose  to 
call  this  a  case  of  that  kind.  That  is,  the  gradation  of  living 
animals  and  the  gradation  of  extinct  forms  result  from  the 
gradation  of  the  embryonic  series  in  the  individual.  It  must 
be  that ;  for  the  individual  is  the  starting  point  of  all  organic 
phenomena.  But,  in  the  embryonic  series,  we  know  that  each 


300  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

phase  is  derived  from  the  preceding  phase  through  a  material 
continuity.  The  developed  embryo  is  all  made  of  the  very 
yolk-stuff  which  existed  in  the  beginning.  If  the  living 
gradation  is  derived  from  the  embryonic,  there  must  be  a 
material  continuity  or  relationship  among  living  animals — as 
we  already  inferred  from  their  resemblances.  If  the  palseon- 
tological  gradation  is  derived  from  or  determined  by,  the 
embryonic,  so  there  must  have  been  a  material  continuity 
running  through  the  palseontological  series,  as  we  could 
easily  infer  from  their  successional  resemblances.  Each  new 
species  is  derived  from  a  predecessor.  The  highest  and  the 
living  forms  are  only  the  last  terms  of  a  long  series  of 
generations. 

Do  not  be  alarmed  at  the  conclusion.  If  it  is  true,  it  is 
precisely  what  we  are  interested  in  finding  out.  If  it  is  not 
true,  then  science  herself  will  disprove  it.  Our  fears  of  con- 
sequences, our  unscientific  objections  and  prejudices  count  for 
nothing,  except  as  complaints  against  God's  method  in  the 
world. 


L/II.    THE  HUMAN  K  ACTOR  IN  THE 
VICISSITUDES. 

MAN   IN   THE   LIGHT  OF   SCIENCE. 

Now  that  we  have  traveled  over  the  entire  course  of  ter- 
restrial history,  we  seem  to  have  attained  an  eminence  from 
which  we  can  take  some  comprehensive  glimpses  of  the  whole 
in  its  relations.  Now  that  we  find  man  to  stand  at  the  end 
of  that  history,  we  are  able  to  comprehend  the  relation  which 
he  sustains  to  its  successive  steps.  Let  us  look  over  the  field 
and  see  what  it  suggests. 

We  learn,  first  of  all,  that  man  is  the  fulfillment  of  the 
prophecies  of  the  ages.  The  first  step  of  organic  progress  led 
toward  man.  It  determined  the  direction  of  the  course  of 
organization,  and  now  that  we  know  man  was  destined  to 
stand  at  the  end  of  that  progress,  we  understand  that  the 
law  of  progress  contemplated  man.  Striking  illustrations  of 


THE  HUMAN  FACTOR.  301 

progress  are  distinctly  traceable  in  the  history  of  Vertebrates. 
The  first  vertebrate  was  a  prophecy  of  man.  In  the  skeletal 
structure  of  the  humble  Devonian  fish,  man  existed  in  poten- 
tiality. The  whole  general  plan  was  destined  to  endure 
through  the  history  of  life,  and  unfold  in  man.  The  Amphib- 
ian, the  Reptile,  the  Bird,  and  the  Quadruped  are  only  suc- 
cessive modifications  of  the  vertebrate  conception  embodied  in 
On'chus  and  Onych'odus.  Still  more  striking  are  the  successive 
modifications  of  vertebrate  limbs.  In  the  pectoral  fin  of  the 
fish,  we  have  a  number  of  bony,  articulated  rays,  which  an- 
swer to  digits;  and  above,  are  carpal  and  metacarpal  bones, 
and  finally,  radius  and  ulna,  humerus  and  scapula,  exactly  as 
in  all  other  vertebrates.  When,  with  the  commencement  of 
the  purification  of  the  air,  the  situation  was  suited  to  low  air- 
breathers,  the  pectoral  fin  was  modified  into  a  five-toed  fore- 
foot. When,  later,  the  situation  demanded  a  more  perfect 
air-breather,  the  reptilian  limb  appeared.  If  the  reptile  was 
appointed  to  swim  in  the  sea,  its  hand  was  shaped  into  a  pad- 
dle, sometimes  with  six  digits  and  many  phalanges,  as  in  the 
fish.  If  it  was  destined  to  fly,  a  finger  was  enormously  elon- 
gated, and  a  skinny  membrane  was  stretched  from  finger  to 
hind-limb  and  tail.  When  the  time  came  for  the  fitting  of  a 
vertebrate  to  make  its  home  in  the  air,  the  bones  were  made 
hollow,  to  combine  lightness  and  strength.  The  hand  and 
fingers  were  abbreviated  and  consolidated ;  cartilage  was  at- 
tached along  side,  and  in  this  were  inserted  the  broad  light 
quills  which  form  the  expansion  of  the  wing.  But  here  we 
find  all  the  structures  contained  in  the  reptilian  foot,  except 
so  far  as  changed  function  demanded  modification.  When 
locomotive  appendages  for  an  animal  of  mammalian  rank  were 
needed,  the  same  set  of  bones  was  further  modified  to  meet 
the  exigencies  of  different  situations,  instincts,  and  habits. 
The  paddle  of  the  whale,  the  shovel  of  the  mole,  the  clawed 
foot  of  the  cat,  the  cloven  hoof  of  the  ox,  the  solid  hoof  of 
the  horse,  the  wing-frame  of  the  bat — all  are  but  modifications 
of  the  same  bony  elements,  adjusted  in  the  same  way,  but 
modified  in  relative  development.  All  this  was  prophetic  of 


302  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

man.  When  an  animal  was  to  appear  whose  forward  ex- 
tremity should  rise  above  the  simple  function  of  locomotion 
and  seizing  of  prey — an  animal  that  should  swing  an  imple- 
ment of  civilization,  ply  an  oar,  wield  a  pen,  manipulate  a 
needle,  make  a  watch,  play  a  violin,  emphasize  thought  by  a 
gesture,  execute  the  behests  of  intelligence  rather  than  of 
appetite  and  passion — then  assuredly,  a  different  and  nobler 
plan  of  structure  must  be  devised.  No,  it  is  the  same  old 
plan.  All  these  resources  existed  potentially  in  the  clumsy  fin 
of  the  fish.  Thus  is  man  related  to  the  plans  of  the  present ; 
thus,  to  a  plan  which  has  persisted  for  millions  of  years ;  and 
thus,  was  man  all  the  time  anticipated  and  approached, 
during  the  progress  of  the  transformations  wrought  by 
the  ages. 

I  will  simply  recall  here  what  has  been  said  about  the  an- 
ticipation of  man  in  the  provision  of  beds  of  coal  laid  by 
from  the  poison  which  once  infected  the  atmosphere,  and 
barred  the  march  of  progress.  No  other  corporeal  being  has 
been  capable  of  comprehending  the  uses  of  the  coal ;  no  in- 
corporeal being  had  need  of  coal.  It  is  something  which 
stands  in  relation  only  to  man ;  for  man  it  was  designed.  We 
may  say  the  same  of  iron,  silver,  and  the  other  useful  products 
of  the  mineral  kingdom.  It  is  only  to  man  that  they  are 
useful.  Man  is  the  fulfillment  of  the  prophecies  of  the  ages. 

We  understand  now,  that  man's  birthplace  was  foreshad- 
owed. It  was  expressed  in  the  formal  gradation  of  the  conti- 
nents. They  are  graded,  in  the  present  epoch.  The  mam- 
malian fauna  of  Australia  is  almost  exclusively  Marsupial ; 
that  of  South  America  is  characterized  by  abundance  of 
Edentates ;  that  of  North  America  is  predominantly  Herbiv- 
orous, while  Carnivores  take  the  lead  on  the  eastern  conti- 
nent. A  similar  gradation  existed  in  the  age  before  man. 
The  mammalian  fossils  of  the  Tertiary  are,  in  Australia,  pre- 
dominantly marsupial ;  in  South  America,  edentate  ;  in  North 
America,  herbivorous ;  in  the  Orient,  carnivorous.  The  apex 
of  organization  in  the  age  before  man,  was  located  in  the 
Orient.  It  might  have  been  anticipated,  therefore,  that  when 


THE  HUMAN  FACTOR.  303 

the  apex  should  rise  to  the  grade  of  man,  the  Orient  would  be 
the  theater  of  its  display. 

Man  seems  signalized  as  the  last  term  in  the  series  of  or- 
ganic improvements.  His  erect  attitude  gives  us  an  intima- 
tion. The  first  vertebrate  swung  horizontally  in  his  native 
element.  The  Amphibian  could  slightly  elevate  his  head. 
The  Reptilian  head  could  be  raised  to  a  higher  angle;  and  the 
highest  reptiles  could  rise  on  four  feet,  or  even  ambulate  as 
bipeds — though  withal,  in  an  awkward  way ;  but  all  reptiles 
dragged  a  cumbrous  tail  prone  on  the  ground.  The  Bird 
perched  in  an  oblique  attitude,  and  raised  the  head  for  an 
outlook ;  but  when  he  swam  through  the  air,  he  took  the  at- 
titude of  a  swimming  fish.  The  Ape  could  clumsily  stand  on 
two  feet,  and  wield  a  weapon  with  his  hands ;  but  the  very 
shape  of  the  foot,  and  the  unmuscular  leg£  show  that  Nature 
never  designed  him  for  a  habitual  biped.  Man  alone,  finds 
the  upright  attitude  quite  natural  and  comfortable.  Here  has 
been  a  progressive  upward  inclination  of  the  spinal  axis. 
Vertical  in  man,  the  progress  comes  to  a  limit.  This  crite- 
rion is  not  suited  to  index  any  further  improvement.  We 
infer  that  no  further  improvement  will  present  itself  to 
be  indexed. 

The  same  inference  is  sustained  by  man's  cosmopolite  adap- 
tations. From  the  beginning  of  life  on  the  earth,  the  range 
of  individual  species  has  been  narrowing.  The  Brachiopods 
and  Trilobites  of  the  Cambrian  ranged  through  wider  seas 
than  those  of  the  Carboniferous.  Land  animals,  when  they 
appeared,  were  fenced  within  still  stricter  limits;  and  when 
the  mammals  came  upon  the  theater  of  being,  each  species — 
almost  each  genus — was  assigned  to  a  particular  corner  of  one 
continent.  Under  this  law  of  progressive  restriction  of  faunal 
range,  man  should  have  been  shut  in  a  narrower  field  than 
any  of  his  predecessors.  He  is  not.  On  the  contrary,  all  re- 
strictions are  removed.  Man  ranges  over  every  continent  and 
through  every  clime.  No  conditions  are  too  hard;  no  diffi- 
culties insurmountable.  Nature  seems  to  have  reached  a 
point  where  a  new  policy  is  inaugurated.  The  shackles  are 


304  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

removed.  Man  is  free  to  possess  the  earth.  With  man  in 
possession  of  the  earth  there  is  room  for  no  wider  ranging 
animal;  there  is  place  for  no  successor. 

Nature  in  man  seems  to  have  reached  a  period.  While 
other  animals  rise  in  steady  gradation  from  lower  to  higher, 
man  proceeds  by  one  grand  leap  to  possess  a  rank  and  dignity 
unapproached  by  his  best  predecessors.  In  intelligence,  in 
aesthetic  perceptions,  in  moral  sense,  in  religious  susceptibility, 
in  theistic  apperceptions,  he  stands  separated  by  an  unbridged 
gulf  from  his  mammalian  fellows.  Man  is  the  capital  and 
completion  of  the  long-rising  column  of  organic  life.  The 
structure  is  finished. 

Man's  advent  is  geologically  recent.  No  report  of  a  human 
relic  has  been  made  by  any  geologist,  from  any  formation  be- 
low the  Miocene.  No  report  of  Miocene  or  Pliocene  man  has 
been  corroborated  by  such  evidence  as  to  claim  the  sanction 
of  conservative  geologists.  European  man  is  first  a  Quater- 
nary phenomenon ;  he  dates  from  the  epoch  of  flooded  streams 
and  glacier  decline.  I  had  once  thought  Pliocene  man  existed 
in  America ;  but  for  reasons  explained  in  Talk  XLIX,  I  am 
led  to  suspect  the  lava  outflow  which  provided  his  sepulcher 
was  an  event  of  the  Glacier  epoch.  It  will  be  noticed  that 
European  discussion  always  concerns  the  man  who  first  in- 
vaded Europe.  We  have  no  facts  bearing  on  the  date  of 
man's  advent  into  Africa  and  Australia.  He  may  have  existed 
there  during  the  reign  of  ice  in  the  north;  he  may  have  pre- 
ceded the  reign  of  ice.  If  Mongoloid  man  was  in  Europe 
immediately  on  the  decline  of  the  glaciers,  the  lower  races 
should  have  lived  somewhere  in  an  earlier  epoch.  But  this  is 
only  a  suggestion. 

Geological  man,  as  far  as  known,  was  the  equal  of  existing 
races.  The  European  Troglodytes  were  Mongoloids  of  the 
grade  of  Esquimaux.  There  is  no  structural  gradation  from 
man  downward  to  half-men  and  apes.  This  has  sometimes 
been  claimed,  but  the  highest  verdict  opposes  that  claim. 

There  are  links  missing  between  man  and  his  mammalian 
predecessors.  Here  is  the  prototype  of  the  great  gap  between 


THE  HUMAN  FACTOR.  305 

man  and  his  contemporaries.  From  the  ape,  from  the  horse, 
the  deer,  and  other  living  types,  we  trace,  through  fossil 
bones,  a  graduation  downward  in  rank,"  and  backward  in  time, 
to  the  organisms  which  made  their  advent  at  the  beginning  of 
the  Tertiary.  Here  is  a  pretty  complete  chain  of  being  in 
each  case,  from  a  primitive  extiuct  form,  down  quite  to  the 
living  form.  But  not  so  with  man.  The  chain  is  broken — 
the  links  are  lost.  We  can  not  explain  this  at  present.  As 
long  as  the  interval  remains,  we  can  not  affirm  from  facts  that 
man  is  the  outcome  of  ordinary  evolution. 

Thus  we  learn  that  man's  organism  is  bound  up  with  the 
history  of  the  material  world.  Inorganic  conditions  have 
always  circumscribed  his  existence.  He  could  only  appear 
when  they  permitted;  he  can  only  dwell  where  they  fit  his 
nature.  The  inorganic  matter  of  the  world  has  afforded 
material  for  the  embodiment  of  his  soul.  The  lime  in  his 
bones  is  as  old  as  Eozoon.  Venerable  old  house  is  that  which 
he  has  built  for  his  dwelling  place — inconceivably  more  ven- 
erable than  the  temples  reared  of  the  stones  of  the  old  pyra- 
mids. He  is  made  of  the  same  stuff  as  the  mountains  and 
the  stars.  He  can  survey  the  material  universe  and  feel  that 
he  is  a  part  of  it;  and  that  the  substance  of  his  frame  dates 
back  to  a  burning  planet,  to  whirling  rings  of  vapor  and 
glowing  fire-mist.  With  the  organic  history  of  the  world  he 
stands  inseparably  connected.  He  is  the  outcome  of  all  ver- 
tebrate progress ;  he  was  embodied  in  its  evolution  as  the  fruit 
and  flower  in  the  growing  stem.  Man  can  stand  up  among  the 
animals  and  feel  a  kinship  with  all  of  them.  He  can  rationally 
sympathize  with  them  and  concern  himself  in  their  well  being. 

In  the  survey  of  the  plans  of  nature  exemplified  even  in 
his  own  being,  he  discovers  in  himself  a  revelation  of  mind. 
Plan  reveals  the  mind  of  a  planner.  That  which  rethinks 
the  thought  embodied  in  a  plan,  must  also  be  mind.  Man 
understands,  to  some  extent,  the  plans  embodied  in  the  struc- 
ture and  history  of  the  world.  Man,  therefore,  in  the  study 
of  material  nature,  arrives  at  a  knowledge  of  something  which 
is  superior  to  matter ;  he  discovers  spirit. 

26 


306  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 


.   MIND  IN 

THE   INTERPRETATION   OF   NATURE. 

Two  little  round  seeds  lie  on  the  table  before  me.  They 
seem  to  be  exactly  alike  in  every  respect ;  but  they  came  from 
two  different  packages,  and  were  labeled  by  different  names. 
What  is  there  about  them  which  makes  them  different?  I 
plant  the  two  seeds,  and  one  grows  to  a  stout  ' '  mustard  tree," 
and  the  other  to  a  field-turnip.  Assuredly,  with  this  differ- 
ence of  outcome,  there  was  a  fundamental  difference  in  nature. 
As 'that  difference  was  not  in  the  material,  or  the  form  of  the 
material,  there  was  something  not  in  the  material  in  which  the 
essential  difference  resided. 

The  ova  of  two  animals — say  the  elephant  and  the  rhi- 
noceros— are  both  simple  nucleated  cells.  To  the  unaided 
eye,  no  difference  is  discoverable.  Subject  them  to  chemical 
analysis,  and  they  are  found  composed  of  the  same  elements 
combined  in  the  same  way.  Treat  them  with  reagents  and 
put  them  under  the  compound  microscope,  and  nothing  is 
seen  in  one  which  does  not  appear  in  the  other.  In  their 
matter,  in  their  form,  they  are  absolutely  undistinguishable. 
Materially  they  are  the  same.  But  one  develops,  out  of  itself, 
the  embryo  of  an  elephant,  and  the  other,  out  of  itself,  the 
embryo  of  a  rhinoceros.  On  these  two  different  embryonic 
foundations  the  two  different  animals  in  their  completeness  are 
built  up.  Thus,  with  no  difference  in  the  matter,  there  ex- 
isted in  the  two  germs,  a  profound  difference  in  nature  and 
destiny.  Beyond  any  thing  scrutable,  existed  something  in- 
scrutable which  controlled  the  development.  That  which  was 
not  matter  gave  to  matter  a  destination  from  which  it  could 
not  swerve. 

A  human  organism  with  all  its  parts  perfect,  and  all  its 
parts  in  harmonious  action,  is  a  splendid  mechanism  which 
can  never  cease  to  awaken  admiration  and  wonder.  While 
we  contemplate  it  alas,  its  activities  cease.  A  powerful  cur- 
rent of  electricity  has  passed  through  the  frame,  and  life  is 
extinct.  The  change  which  we  witness  is  appalling.  The  eye 


MIND  IN  MATTER.  307 

has  lost  its  light;  the  voice  gives  forth  no  more  intelligence; 
the  muscles  cease  to  grasp  the  implement;  the  fabric  of  a  man 
now  lies  prone,  motionless,  speechless,  insensible,  dead — a  stu- 
pendous and  total  change.  But  what  is  changed?  Not  the 
mechanism.  The  heart  is  still  in  its  place,  with  all  its  valves ; 
the  brain  shows  no  lesion ;  the  muscles  are  all  ready  to  act ; 
every  part  remains  as  it  was  in  life.  Neither  chemistry  nor 
the  microscope  detects,  as  yet,  a  material  change.  But  some- 
thing has  gone  out  of  the  mechanism,  for  it  is  not  as  it  was — 
something  inscrutable,  but  yet  something  which  ruled  the 
mechanism — sustaining  its  action,  lighting  the  eye,  giving,  in- 
formation to  the  tongue,  making  of  this  machinery  absolutely 
all  that  which  led  us  to  say,  "Here  is  a  man."  The  man  has 
gone  out  and  left  only  his  silent  workshop  behind.. 

Consider  the  life-powers  in  action.  The  organism  is  in 
process  of  growth.  A  common  fund  of  assimilative  material 
is  provided  by  the  digestive  organs.  Out  of  this,  atom  by 
atom  is  selected  and  built  into  the  various  tissue-fabrics.  Here 
such  atoms  are  selected  as  the  formation  of  bone  requires ; 
there,  the  atoms  suited  for  nerve  or  brain-structure;  in  an- 
other place,  the  material  of  which  muscles  are  made.  If,  un- 
fortunately, the  lime  should  be  brought  to  be  worked  up  in 
the  muscle-factory,  or  the  nerve-stuff  to  be  made  into  bone, 
the  whole  organism  would  be  thrown  into  disorder.  Nice 
selection  of  material  is  indispensable.  Then  notice  the  build- 
ing of  the  bones.  In  one  place  the  framework  is  so  laid  that 
the  filling  up  will  result  in  a  flat  bone.  It  is  to  be  a  shoulder 
blade,  or  a  portion  of  the  skull.  In  another  place  the  frame- 
work is  elongated ;  it  is  to  be  a  long  bone.  The  humerus  is 
never  built  into  the  skull,  nor  the  shoulder-blade  into  the  sole 
of  the  foot.  Every  bone  is  constructed  for  its  place  and  its 
function.  The  whole  system  of  bones,  moreover,  is  conformed 
to  a  definite  fundamental  plan  of  structure — it  is  according  to 
the  plan  of  a  vertebrate.  Now,  selection  of  appropriate  ma- 
terial is  an  act  of  intelligence.  The  determination  of  one 
form  of  structure  rather  than  another  implies  discriminating 
intelligence  and  executive  will.  The  conformation  of  the  total 


308  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

system  of  structures  in  the  organism  to  an  ideal  plan  implies 
first,  a  conception  of  the  plan ;  secondly,  a  perception  of  fit- 
ness between  the  plan  and  each  particular  tissue  in  process  of 
formation.  Certainly,  we  must  say  that  here  mind  is  at  work. 
But  is  it  the  mind  of  the  animal  or  plant  ?  Every  person  can 
answer  for  himself  whether  he  made  his  own  bones.  The 
question  is  absurd.  Is  the  mind  evinced  possessed  by  the 
matter?  Do  these  atoms  and  molecules  move  and  arrange 
themselves  by  an  intelligence  and  choice  of  their  own?  Has 
each  one  a  conception  of  the  plan  to  which  they  so  consen- 
taneously work  ?  Do  they  intelligently  maintain  the  processes 
of  digestion,  blood-purification,  assimilation,  and  tissue-building? 
How  do  they  conceive,  think,  and  will  without  brain  ?  How 
select  without  eyes  or  hands?  Who  ever  knew  intelligence 
acting  without  brain?  But,  it  is  conceivable,  you  say.  Yes, 
though  it  is  not  a  brainless  molecule.  There  is  intelligence 
acting  in  the  organism,  which  does  not  belong  to  the  matter 
or  the  individual;  whose  intelligence  is  it?  Intelligence  is  an 
attribute ;  it  belongs  to  being ;  it  does  not  act  abstracted  from 
being.  What  being  then,  acts  in  the  living  organism  ?  It  is 
the  Omnipresent  Being. 

We  need  not  restrict  our  consideration  to  the  subtleties  of 
physiological  action ;  the  fall  of  an  apple  teaches  the  same 
thing.  You  say  the  attraction  of  the  earth  causes  the  apple 
to  fall.  Good,  but  what  is  the  attraction  of  the  earth?  Do 
you  mean  that  the  earth  possesses  the  attribute  of  attraction, 
and  exercises  that  attribute  across  the  distance  which  separates 
it  from  the  apple?  I  think  that  is  what  most  people  mean  by 
attraction.  But  will  you  now  explain  how  the  earth  as  a 
cause  produces  an  effect  in  the  apple — a  place  where  the  cause 
is  not?  Must  not  the  cause  of  an  effect  be  present  in  place 
as  well  as  time  ?  Either  there  is  some  medium  intervening 
between  the  earth  and  apple,  through  which  the  earth  trans- 
mits its  action  on  the  apple,  or  the  downward  pull  comes 
from  some  other  source,  and  the  presence  of  the  earth  is  only 
the  occasion  on  which  the  pull  is  exerted.  Which  alternative 
will  you  adopt? 


MIND  IN  MATTEK.  309 

You  say  you  will  admit  that  the  earth  exerts  an  active 
power  through  a  medium.  What  ground  have  you  to  claim 
that  any  active  power  is  possessed  by  the  earth?  Have  you 
ever  known  a  stone  or  a  stick  or  a  chunk  of  ice  to  exert  any 
active  agency — except  this  hypothetical  agency  of  attraction? 
You  think  you  have  often  seen  matter  put  forth  activities  of 
its  own ;  but  really  you  have  only  seen  activities  exerted  in 
connection  with  matter — just  as  you  observe  selection  and 
choice  in  the  working  organism.  Now  in  reality,  all  you 
know  about  the  origin  and  seat  of  efficient  power  is  given  you 
in  your  own  consciousness  when  you  exert  power ;  and  what 
you  infer  from  analogy  when  power  seems  to  be  exerted  by 
other  persons.  That  is,  you  only  know  that  efficiency  origi- 
nates in  will — your  own  will;  and  when  you  see  efficiency 
exerted  anywhere,  you  can  only  affirm  that  some  wiU  is  acting. 

Now,  are  you  prepared  to  ascribe  such  will  to  the  earth, 
to  stones  and  mud  and  chunks  of  ice,  when  the  so-called  at- 
traction seems  to  be  exerted  by  them  ?  This  is  the  same  ques- 
tion which  has  settled  itself  in  the  negative.  The  downward 
pull  on  the  apple  comes,  then,  from  some  other  source.  This 
is  the  other  alternative.  It  means  that  power  is  exerted  on 
the  apple,  and  on  all  things,  causing  them  to  tend  together 
in  a  certain  fashion  which  we  style  the  law  of  gravitation. 
Now,  power  is  an  attribute.  It  belongs  to  something;  as  it 
proceeds  from  will,  power  and  will  together  are  attributes  of 
being.  Manifestly,  that  being  is  omnipresent,  for  attraction 
is  omnipresent.  It  is  the  Omnipresent  Being. 

Now  let  us  glance  at  the  principle  of  mechanical  adapta- 
tions. The  heart  has  valves  which  open  and  close,  and  serve 
the  same  ends  as  the  valves  in  a  pump.  Do  you  think  they 
were  intentionally  so  constructed  and  so  placed,  and  so  acted 
on  ?  You  have  no  doubt  of  it,  you  say ;  neither  have  I.  But 
you  perceive  that  if  intention  was  present,  mind  was  present  to 
understand  the  use  and  to  perfect  the  adaptation.  As  before, 
this  implies  a  personal  being,  and  a  personal  being  present  wher- 
ever hearts  are  in  process  of  formation,  and  wherever  any 
other  design  is  going  into  effect.  It  must  be,  then,  an  Om- 


310  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

represent  Being.  This  reasoning  is  so  simple  and  so  sponta- 
neous that  it  has  been  held  in  high  esteem  ever  since  the  epoch 
of  Aristotle. 

But  there  are  some  persons  who  tell  us  that  the  design  in  a 
pump  is  obvious,  because  we  can  fathom  the  mind  which  made 
it;  but  the  design  of  the  pump  in  us,  which  does  the  same 
work,  can  not  be  granted^  because  we  neither  know  who  made 
it,  nor  for  what  purpose  it  was  made,  nor  whether  there  was 
any  purpose.  This  language  seems  very  strange  to  an  un- 
sophisticated intelligence  ;  but  human  intuitions  are  not  to  be 
balked  by  any  such  studied  and  presumptuous  nonsense.  I 
set  it  down  as  a  first  principle  of  intelligence,  that  coordina- 
tion in  structure  or  action,  implies  intention.  Finding  things 
so  coordinated  in  nature — for  instance,  the  ball  and  socket  of 
a  joint — we  feel  inclined  to  affirm  that  they  were  intended  to 
serve  as  a  joint ;  and  I  believe  they  were.  But  suppose  they 
were  not  so  intended ;  these  are  structures  most  accurately 
adjusted  to  each  other — that  is  not  the  result  of  chance. 
There  are  not  only  the  fitting  shapes,  but  the  ligament  which 
holds  them  together ;  the  investing  membrane  which  incloses  the 
joint  in  a  bag ;  the  sinovial  fluid  which  lubricates  it ;  the  solid 
bosses  on  the  bones,  suitable  for  the  attachment  of  muscles ; 
the  muscles  capable  of  working  the  joint,  and  no  end  of  other 
structures  all  tributary  to  the  action  of  the  joint.  If  now, 
after  all,  we  pretend  to  complete  ignorance  of  any  use  or  ac- 
tion designed  in  these  structures,  we  can  not  possibly  resist  the 
conviction  that  these  various  things  came  together  through  some 
intention.  Coordination  of  parts — simply  and  alone — regard- 
less too,  of  the  authorship — implies  intention.  That  is  a  prin- 
ciple of  the  universal  reason.  To  question  it  is  to  dispute 
with  the  "multiplication  table." 

Glance  next,  at  the  prevalence  of  plans  in  the  world. 
There  is  the  plan  of  vertebrate  structure  ;  I  have  often  made 
mention  of  it.  In  the  modification  of  the  plan  for  beings  so 
diverse,  with  such  different  homes  and  native  elements,  and 
instincts  and  functions,  as  those  which  have  been  formed,  it 
is  wonderful  that  a  simple  conception  should  persist  through  all 


MIND  IN  MATTEE.  311 

the  ages  of  vertebrate  history.  It  is  an  imperishable  thought. 
The  Articulates  present  us  another  plan  persistent  for  even  a 
longer  period.  The  earth  grew  and  attained  completeness 
according  to  a  method.  I  have  brought  before  your  attention 
the  method  of  plant-making — an  astonishing  history,  which 
correlates  all  our  planets  and  satellites  under  one  system. 
There  is  the  method  of  the  movements  of  the  planetary  bodies. 
Their  paths  are  mathematical  curves.  There  are  other  mathe- 
matical relations  existing  among  their  distances,  their  periods, 
their  velocities.  They  are  all  swinging  through  vast  irregu- 
larities in  their  positions  and  movements;  but  these  all  pass 
through  cycles,  and  the  old  state  is  restored,  showing  that  the 
method  of  the  planets  is  so  all-comprehending  and  enduring 
that  seeming  irregularities  which  continue  for  centuries,  are 
in  fact  but  the  fundamental  features  of  a  stupendous  plan. 

Now  a  plan  is  a  mental  concept,  framed  by  reflection,  and 
coordinating  things  which  are  the  objects  of  separate  cognition. 
In  brief,  plan  is  the  product  of  thought;  it  is  a  demonstra- 
tion of  the  existence  and  presence  and  activity  of  mind.  If 
the  material  worid  is  underlaid  and  pervaded  and  operated  by 
plan,  method,  law,  then  the  world  is  a  constant  revelation  of 
a  present  intelligence,  an  omnipresent  and  omniscient  Being. 

There  is  one  plan  which  underlies  all  other  plans.  In  a 
brief  and  condensed  way,  I  have  attempted  to  show  that  the 
plans  exemplified  in  organic  life  and  the  plans  exemplified  in 
the  formation  of  worlds,  are  only  special  exemplifications  of 
the  all-embracing  plan  of  evolution.  Out  of  the  infinite  store- 
house of  possible  plans  under  which  the  Supreme  Power 
might  have  proceeded  in  the  origination  of  things,  he  has 
chosen  the  method  which  we  call  evolution.  This  is  a  divine 
choice.  This  sets  forth  a  divine  and  eternal  thought.  This 
embraces  the  world,  the  heavens,  the  universe,  and  every- 
where proclaims  the  Mind  which  instituted  it.  This  great 
all-embracing,  all-confronting,  all-enduring  fact  inspires  our 
souls  with  awe ;  it  illuminates  the  dark  realm  of  matter  with 
the  sunlight  of  a  divine  revelation ;  it  moves  our  souls  with  a 
sentiment  of  humble  and  profound  adoration. 


312  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

Do  not  say  the  doctrine  displaces  the  doctrine  of  divine 
creation  ;  for  it  proclaims  creation — a  perpetual  creation — ac- 
cording to  an  intelligible,  God-chosen  method.  Do  not  say 
that  in  recognizing  the  "reign  of  law"  we  displace  personal 
divine  agency  ;  for  the  first  principle  in  an  intelligent  divine 
government  must  be  order,  regularity,  uniformity.  Do  not 
imagine  that  law  and  method  are  the  cause  of  any  thing ;  or 
that  we  can  hold  them  to  be  causes.  Natural  law  and  method 
are  only  modes  or  ways  in  which  the  divine  creative  Cause 
chooses  to  act.  Do  not  say  on  the  other  hand,  that  the 
ascription  of  world-regulating  law  to  a  personal  Will,  is  the 
delivery  of  the  world  to  the  government  of  caprice.  Caprice 
results  from  the  absence  of  mind.  Law  and  mind  are  correla- 
tive terms. 

I  must  not  claim  your  attention  longer.  Perhaps  I  have 
penned  some  sentences  which  my  younger  readers  will  find 
difficult ;  but  I  hope  you  will  all  treasure  the  truth  in  these 
sentences,  and  ponder  over  it;  then,  when  a  little  older,  you 
will  be  enraptured,  as  I  have  been,  with  the  richness  and 
depth  and  grandeur  of  the  meaning  which  the  divine  hand 
has  written  in  the  rocks  and  in  the  stars. 


THE   UNITY   OF   NATURE. 

THROUGH  my  window  I  watch  the  paling  of  the  evening 
twilight,  till  a  mild  ray  from  a  little  star  meets  my  eye.  The 
pensive  hour  awakens  a  train  of  thought.  A  tiny  ray  of  star- 
light— whence  comes  it?  What  is  it?  What  does  it  say  to 
me?  My  soul  listens,  and  I  hear  starry  responses:  "I  am 
a  tremor  in  the  universal  ether.  I  am  the  throb  of  a  world 
in  flames.  It  swings  on  the  farther  verge  of  the  abyss  of 
space,  and  launched  me  years  ago  on  a  wave  of  ether,  to  be 
floated  down  to  your  dark  planet  and  whisper  a  sublime  truth 
to  your  understanding.  I  have  traveled  ten  score  thousand 
miles  a  second,  but  since  I  started  your  grand-parents  first 
saw  the  day.  They  have  spent  their  toilsome  lives,  and  the 


ONE  EMPIHE.  313 

third  generation  now  meets  me  at  the  window.  In  the  cold 
realms  of  space  I  have  watched  starry  specks,  till,  with  nearer 
approach,  they  grew  into  suns;  and  I  have  darted  from  their 
effulgence  into  other  realms  of  starlight  and  frost.  I  am  a 
flash  of  divine  intelligence.  I  am  a  messenger  from  the  Infi- 
nite, I  bring  tidings  of  the  immensity  of  creation,  of  the 
recognition  of  one  supreme  authority  among  all  the  constella- 
tions— the  unity  of  the  vast  empire  which  stretches  as  far  as 
light  of  star  has  flown  or  electric  thought  has  pierced." 

So  I  listened  to  the  message  of  the  starlight,  and  my 
thoughts  were  stirred  within  me.  They  wandered  through 
the  vast  spaces  of  the  silent  worlds,  and  I  saw  them  all 
balanced  on  the  invisible  threads  of  gravitation — the  same 
gravitation  which  drags  the  sands  of  the  Cordilleras  down  to 
the  Gulf.  I  saw  worlds  in  pairs  and  triples,  waltzing  about 
a  common  center  of  gravity ;  I  traced  the  ellipses  which  they 
make  in  space,  and  found  their  radii  vectores  describing  equal 
areas  in  equal  times — -just  as  the  moon  moves  round  the  earth 
and  the  earth  around  the  sun.  No  new  geometry — no  new 
mechanics  in  the  systems  of  Sirius  or  Aldebaran  or  Polaris. 
I  saw  the  same  ethereal  pulsations  flash  light  into  being  in  the 
constellation  Bootes,  as  in  the  flashing  of  a  match  in  my 
study.  Capella  and  Vega  and  the  Earth  are  islands  in  one 
ocean  and  the  same  waves  beat  on  all  the  shores. 

My  thoughts  still  fondly  caressed  the  theme.  They  re- 
called to  me  now  the  magical  achievements  of  the  spectro- 
scope. What  had  the  spectroscope  done  ?  It  had  taken  such 
a  ray  of  star-light  as  had  come  to  me  this  evening,  and  become 
its  confidant.  To  it  the  little  ray  had  recited  more  than  to  me. 
It  has  revealed  the  fact  that  the  orb  which  sent  it  on  its  way 
was  a  globe  of  incandescent  vapor.  Another  ray  brought 
tidings  of  a  world  beginning  to  liquefy ;  and  still  another 
bore  a  message  which  seems  to  mean  that  its  parent  orb  is 
approaching  a  stage  of  incrustation.  These  are  familiar 
thoughts  to  us  who  floated  down  the  history  of  our  own  fire- 
born  planet.  The  confessions  of  a  star  seem  a  reminiscence 
of  the  earth's  infancy.  What  has  the  spectroscope  further 

27 


314  WALKS  AND  TALKS. 

done?  It  listened  further  to  the  revelation  of  the  star-light. 
It  learned  that  the  same  world-stuff  pervades  the  starry  spaces 
and  the  precincts  of  our  planetary  home.  Iron  is  in  the 
stars  and  bolts  the  universe  together  in  one  inseparable  unity. 
Sodium  is  there,  and  hydrogen  and  other  substances  which 
identify  the  stars  and  the  earth.  The  very  mud  in  our  streets 
is  lighted  up  in  the  constellations.  Sunlight  tells  the  spectro- 
scope a  fuller  tale.  It  writes  the  names  of  twenty  elements, 
at  least,  with  which  we  have  toyed  in  the  laboratory,  and  un- 
folds a  marvelous  story  of  warring  flames  and  bristling  fire- 
darts  streaming  a  million  of  miles  from  the  lambent  surface 
of  the  sphere. 

Thought  wandered  again  across  the  wild  courses  of  the 
meteors.  They  awakened  recollections  of  the  iron  and  stones 
which  have  come  to  the  earth ;  and  of  the  carbon  and  hydro- 
gen and  watery  vapor  which  they  have  brought  to  us  from 
beyond  the  planets.  These  falling  stones  have  come  as  actual 
samples  out  of  the  store-house  of  world-stuff.  They  verify 
the  revelations  of  the  light.  They  come  as  slow-traveling  mes- 
sengers to  confirm  and  amplify  tidings  flashed  by  telegraph. 
They  proclaim  one  sort  of  matter  throughout  the  empire  vast 
as  the  limits  of  human  vision. 

Next,  passed  before  memory's  view,  a  grand  procession  of 
events.  Nebulous  matter  emerged  from  non-existence,  and 
subjected  itself  to  the  workings  of  gravitation  and  heat  and 
mechanics,  till  a  succession  of  worlds  rolled  out  on  the  plat- 
form of  existence,  and  I  saw  myself  a  circumstance  in  the 
midst  of  the  cosmic  unfolding.  I  marveled  that  the  energies 
of  Nature  had  not  been  exhausted,  or  replaced,  in  the  seonic 
labors  which  they  performed  in  molding  a  system  of  planets 
and  marshaling  them  in  their  places.  But  I  find  that  gravi- 
tation and  heat  have  worked  under  the  same  laws  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end.  The  unity  of  the  physical  world  is  as 
vast  and  as  wonderful  viewed  in  its  historical  relations  as  in 
its  spatial  extent.  Down  through  all  the  cycles — through  all 
the  burnings  and  freezings — through  disruptions  and  collisions — 
through  cataclysms  of  fire  and  flood,  one  hand  has  steadied 


ONE  EMPIRE.  .         315 

the  grand  movement,  and  held  it  close  to  the  plan  which  One 
Intelligence  ordained  and  One  Will  perpetuated. 

Such  a  train  of  reflections  is  awakened  by  the  arrival  of  a 
ray  of  evening  star-light.  But  our  memories  are  stocked,  I 
think,  with  information  which  bears  our  thoughts  along  other 
lines.  We  have  seen  how  man's  organization  is  bound  up 
with  the  constitution  and  the  history  of  the  world.  We  know 
that  man,  in  his  own  person,  is  the  link  which  binds  together 
the  beginning  and  the  end  of  geological  history.  In  his 
material  substance,  he  is  a  part  of  the  material  world.  In 
his  plan  of  structure  he  is  brother  of  the  entire  sub-kingdom 
of  Vertebrates.  In  the  basis  of  his  life  he  asserts  kinship 
with  all  that  lives  or  has  ever  lived.  He  can  stand  erect  in 
the  vast  and  majestic  realm  of  nature  and  say,  I  am  a  part 
of  it.  I  am  bound  up  with  it — not  with  the  earth  and  moon 
alone,  but  with  the  stars.  Their  vicissitudes  are  my  personal 
concern.  I  am  made  of  world-stuff.  The  soul  which  swells 
within  me,  and  seizes  on  the  meaning  of  the  forms  of  Nature — 
that  unites  me  with  the  invisible  and  eternal. 

We  note  another  aspect  of  the  unity  of  nature.  Not 
alone  the  unity  of  things  in  themselves,  but  the  unity  of 
things  with  each  other.  Plant  life  dawned  as  soon  as  the  tur- 
moil of  the  primitive  ocean  had  subsided.  Humble  animal 
forms  rose  above  the  horizon  of  being  as  soon  as  a  place  in 
the  world  had  been  prepared  for  them.  As  conditions  im- 
proved organization  slowly  climbed  the  ladder  of  gradations, 
on  whose  topmost  round  man  stands  erect  and  regal.  Through- 
out the  history  of  life,  the  relations  between  organic  and  in- 
organic nature  have  been  reciprocal  and  responsive — insomuch 
that  a  careless  logic  has  held  the  organism  to  be  the  result  of 
its  environment. 

Observe  also,  the  correlation  between  the  world  and  intel- 
ligence. The  capacity  of  knowledge  exists  in  the  presence  of 
something  to  know.  And  the  objects  of  knowledge  are  acces- 
sible to  the  knowing  faculty.  With  the  knowable  and  the 
knowing  faculty  confronting  each  other,  the  pleasure  of 
knowing  also  stimulates  the  knowing  faculty  to  exercise,  and 


316  WALKS  ASTO  TALKS. 

thus  fulfills  the  manifest  end  of  its  existence,  and  fulfills  a 
clear  mandate  incorporated  in  the  being  of  man,  to  seek  for 
knowledge.  The  correlations  between  the  world  and  psychical 
natures  impress  us  in  the  commonest  observations.  How 
true  are  the  instincts  of  men  and  animals  to  something  which 
is  real.  The  tadpole  absorbs  its  gills  and  pushes  out  upon  the 
shore — taking  advantage  of  a  fall  of  rain — and  ventures  trust- 
fully on  the  land,  believing  that  a  suitable  home  will  be 
found.  Nor  is  the  trust  betrayed.  The  mother  fowl  calls  her 
new-born  chicks,  and  they  already  know  her  voice.  The 
hungry  babe  cries  out  in  the  night,  and  Nature  has  responded 
beforehand  to  the  call.  The  intellectual  instincts  find  the 
realities  of  nature  equally  responsive.  What  intuition  tells  us 
may  be  trusted.  It  is  a  voice  implanted  in  my  nature;  it 
speaks  for  the  author  of  my  being;  it  is  the  voice  of  God. 

One  kind  of  intelligence  takes  hold  of  the  knowable.  In 
the  mind  which  conceived  the  plan  and  frame  of  the  universe 
was  an  apprehension  of  the  mathematical  relations  of  the 
magnitudes  involved.  The  plan  of  the  solar  system  in  its 
co-existent  parts,  and  in  its  progressive  creation  was  a  thought 
in  the  mind  of  the  Originator.  Man,  so  far  as  he  grasps  it, 
rethinks  the  thoughts  "of  the  Supreme  Thinker.  To  seek 
knowledge  is  to  aspire  to  reproduce  the  thoughts  of  the  divine 
mind.  So  far  as  man  thinks  the  divine  thoughts,  he  possesses 
a  faculty  akin  to  the  divine  intelligence ;  so  far  he  partakes  of 
the  divine  nature ;  so  far  he  comes  into  a  sympathetic  union 
with  the  Being  whose  existence  is  before  all  and  beyond  all. 
I  believe,  too,  that  all  intelligences  whether  dwellers  in  an 
angelic  realm  or  on  other  planets,  whether  inhabitants  of  our 
system  or  other  systems,  understand  the  truths  of  nature  as 
we  understand  them.  There  is  but  one  geometry;  there  is 
but  one  body  of  transcendental  philosophy.  In  these  we  find 
the  common  thoughts  and  the  common  language  of  universal 
intelligence.  In  the  unity  of  intelligence  we  find  a  bond  of 
brotherhood  and  sympathy  between  the  dwellers  in  distant 
worlds  and  between  all  and  the  Supreme  Intelligence. 

The   unity  of  man's  corporeal  organism  with   the  funda- 


ONE  EMPIEE.  317 

mental  plan  of  vertebrate  organization,  and  with  the  more  fun- 
damental plan  of  animal  organization,  is  an  instructive  fact  to 
which  our  attention  has  more  than  once  been  drawn.  But  it 
does  not  surpass  in  interest  the  unity  of  mankind  in  the  basal 
attributes  of  a  moral  and  religious  nature.  It  is  vain  to  dis- 
pute the  possession  of  a  nature  essentially  religious,  by  even 
the  lowest  tribes  of  humanity.  One  common  aspiration  stirs 
every  human  soul — to  accommodate  itself  to  the  Supreme 
Being  whose  existence  it  feels,  or  more  explicitly  understands, 
and  whose  authority  it  unhesitatingly  recognizes.  While  this 
common  religious  nature  expresses  the  unity  of  mankind,  it 
has  also  a  higher  significance.  The  correlative  of  the  religious 
consciousness  is  God.  Man  and  his  Creator,  therefore,  con- 
stitute one  system — a  complete  system,  the  unity  of  which  is 
expressed  in  a  body  of  reciprocal  relations  between  God  and 
man.  The  unity  of  the  realm  of  nature  is  proven,  as  we  see, 
to  the  understanding  by  the  phenomena  and  the  history  of 
nature ;  but  without  proof,  every  man  holds  intuitively  to  the 
unity  of  nature ;  every  man  firmly  believes  it.  As  the  demon- 
strated unity  of  nature  implies  one  original  Planner  and  one 
Supreme  Ruler;  so  this  truth,  here  made  known  as  an  infer- 
ence from  facts  of  observation,  is  identical  with  the  intuition 
of  the  Unity  of  God  revealed  in  the  universal  consciousness 
of  man. 

Now  John  and  Jennie — George  and  Julia — John's  mother 
and  aunt — and  every  body  that  has  been  with  us  through  these 
Talks — it  is  time  for  us  to  take  a  vacation.  I  fear  several  of 
the  last  Talks  have  been  rather  hard  for  some  of  you,  as  the 
thoughts  are  too  grand  to  level  down ;  but  I  could  never  for- 
give myself,  had  I  omitted  them,  for  they  seem  to  me  to  be 
the  ripe  fruit,  while  all  the  rest  is  the  mere  stem  and  branches 
on  which  the  crop  of  fruit  is  developed.  I  think  some  of  my 
readers  will  be  glad  to  get  this  fruit,  and  I  am  sure  that  John 
and  Jennie  will  keenly  relish  it  as  soon  as  their  appetites  are 
a  little  more  matured. 


I.  SYNOPTICAL  VIEW 

OF  THE 

Classification  of  Plants  and  Animals. 


I.  PLANTS. 

Series  I.    Cryptogams. 
Stem  I.  THALLOPHYTES.    CLASSES:  ALG^E,  FUNGI,  LICHENS. 
Stem  II.  BRYOPHYTES.    ORDERS:  LIVERWORTS,  MOSSES. 

Stem  III.  PTERIDOPHYTES.  CLASSES:  FERNS;  CALAMARIANS,  in- 
cluding Horsetails  and  Calamites ;  LYCOPODIACEANS,  in- 
cluding Lycopodids  (p.  245),  Lepidodendrids  (pp.  174,  245), 
and  Sigillarids  (pp.  174,  245). 

Series  II.  Phanerogams. 

Stem  IV.  GYMNOSPERMS,  seeds  not  inclosed.  Including  the  ORDERS: 
CYCADS  (p.  246),  and  CONIFERS. 

Stem  ¥.  ANGIOSPERMS,  seeds  inclosed.  Including  the  CLASSES: 
MONOCOTYLEDONS  or  Endogens  and  DICOTYLEDONS  or 
Exogens. 

II.  ANIMALS. 

Stem  I.  PROTOZOANS,  including  the  ORDERS:  FORAMINIPERS,  to  which 
belong  Globigerina  (pp.  59, 168),  and  Eozoon  (p.  199) ;  LOBOSA 
which  includes  Amoeba  (p.  200). 

Stem  II.  C(ELENTERATES,  including  the  CLASSES:  SPONGES,  ANTHO- 
ZOANS,  including  all  true  coral-animals  (p.  181). 

Stem  III.  ECHINODERMS,  with  the  CLASS  CRINOIDS  containing  the 
ORDERS:  EUCRINOIDS  (pp.  193,  234,  242),  CYSTOIDS  (p.  190), 
and  BLASTOIDS. 

Stem  l¥.  WORMS,  including  Scolithus. 

(319) 


320  SYNOPTICAL  VIEW. 

Stem  V.  MOLLUSCS,  with  CLASSES:  BRYOZOANS,  BRACHIOPODS 
(pp.  182,  193,  234),  LAMELLIBRANCHS  (pp.  234,  193),  GAS- 
TEROPODS  (pp.  195,  234),  CEPHALOPODS  (p.  187). 

Stem  VI.  ARTHROPODS,  with  CLASSES:  CRUSTACEANS,  including  OR- 
DERS: TRILOBITES  (p.  191),  and  MEROSTOMES  (p.  239); 
ARACHNIDS  (p.  178),  MYRIAPODS  (p.  178)  and  INSECTS. 

Stem  VII.   VERTEBRATES. 

CLASS  I.  FISHES,  with  ORDERS:  TELEOSTEANS  common  bony 
Fishes;  GANOIDS  (p.  236),  PLACODERMS  (pp.  183,  236),  ELAS- 
MOBRANCHS,  including  Sharks  and  Rays. 

CLASS  II.  AMPHIBIANS  (p.  176),  with  ORDERS:.  URODELES.  Sal- 
amanders ;  BATRACHIANS,  Frogs  and  Toads ;  ^ABYRINTHO- 
DONTS  (pp.  177,  247). 

CLASS  III.  REPTILES  (p.  260),  with  ORDERS:  CHELONIANS,  Tur- 
tles; PLESIOSAURS  (p.  251),  LIZARDS;  PYTHONOMORPHS,  Sea 
Serpents;  SERPENTS;  ICHTHYOSAURS  (p.  251),  CROCODILIANS 
(p.  248) ;  PTEROSAURS  (p.  257) ;  DEINOSAURS  (pp.  247,  251). 

CLASS  IV.  BIRDS,  with  Sub- Classes;  Toothed  Birds  (p.  261); 
Jtunning  Birds  (p.  262)  ;  and  Flying  &irds  (p.  262). 

CLASS    V.    MAMMALS,    with    Sub- Classes:     Ornithodelphs ;    J>i- 

delphs  (p.  252);  and  Monodelphs,  including  ORDERS:  EDEN- 
TATES (p.  285) ;  SIRENIANS,  Manatee ;  CETACEANS,  Whales, 
Dolphins,  Zeuglodon  (p.  165) ;  HYRACOIDS  ;  PROBOSCIDIANS 
(p.  156) ;  AMBLYPODA,  embracing  Dinoceras  (p.  256),  Uinta- 
therium  (p.  257),  Coryphodon  (p.  256) ;  CLINODACTYLA,  in- 
cluding Rhinoceros  (p.  257).  Tapir  (p.  257),  Rrontotherium 
(p.  257),  Horse  (pp.  256  263) ;  Hippopotamus,  Oreodon 
(p.  257);  Camel,  Sheep.  Ox;  TILLODONTS,  Tillotherium 
(p.  256) ;  CARNIVORES,  including  Pinnipeds,  Seals,  Planti- 
grades (p.  255),  Digitigrades  (pp.  255,  257);  RODENTS, 
CHEIROPTERS,  INSECTIVORES,  Moles ;  QUADRUMANES,  with 
suborders:  Lemurs,  Tailed  Monkeys,  Anthropoids;  Bi- 
MANES,  Man. 


CITATIONS  AND  OTHER  WORKS.  321 


II.  Citations  for  Further  Information. 

The  Author  believes  it  may  be  of  service  to  the  reader  to  indi- 
cate portions  of  his  own  writings  in  which  subjects  lightly  touched 
in  this  book  may  be  found  further  elucidated.  The  works  in  the 
appended  list  are  cited  by  the  numbers  prefixed. 

1.  For  graphical  illustrations  of  the  general  subject,  see  espe- 
cially II ;  but  also  III,  IV  and  V. 

2.  Rudimentary  guide  to  systematic  study,  I. 

3.  Ampler  guide  to  systematic  study,  II. 

4.  Fuller  and  more  scientific  treatment  of  theoretical  portions 
of  the  general  subject,  III. 

5.  Popular  descriptions  with  delineations  of  terrestrial  history 
yet  future,  V. 

6.  Glacial  phenomena  and  scenery,  IV. 

7.  Something  fuller    on    prehistoric  man,  V,  VI.     Also   Mc- 
Clintock  and  Strong's  Cyclopaedia,  Article  "Preadamites." 

8.  Ethnology,  homes,  and  migrations  of  early  peoples,  VI. 

9.  The  relations  of  religion  and  intelligence,  VIII,  IV. 

10.  Synopsis  of  world-theories  of  Kant,  Laplace,  Herschel,  and 
others,  III,  Part  IV. 

11.  The  Doctrine  of  Evolution,  VII,  IV.    But  more  especially, 
Encyclopedia  Britannica,   American  Reprint,  Supplement,  Article 
"  Darwinism ;"  also,  McClintock  and  Strong's  Cyclopaedia,  Supple- 
ment, Article,  "  Evolution." 


III.  Other  Works  by  the  Author  of  this  Book. 

I.  Geological  Excursions,  or  the  Rudiments  of  Geology  for 

young  Learners,  234  pp.  88  cuts.    Griggs  &  Co.,  Chicago. 

II.  Geological  studies,  or  Elements  of  Geology  for  High 
Schools,  Colleges,  Normal  and  other  Schools.    Part  I.  Geology  In- 
ductively Presented.      Part  II.    Geology    Treated   Systematically, 
about  500  pp.    367  Illustrations.    Griggs  &  Co.,  Chicago. 

III.  World-I4fe    or   Comparative    Geology,   pp.   xxiv-f-642. 
59  illustrations.     S.  C.  Griggs  &  Co.,  Chicago. 

IV.  Sparks  from  a  Geologist's  Hammer,  pp.  400,  with 
10  illustrations.    Griggs  &  Co. 


OTHER  WORKS. 

V.  Sketches  of  Creation,  a  Popular  View  of  some  of  the 
Grand  Conclusions  of  the  Sciences  in  reference  to  the  History  of 
Matter  and  of  Life ;  together  with  a  statement  of  the  Intimations  of 
Science  respecting  the  Primordial  Condition  and  Ultimate  Destiny 
of  the  Earth  and  the  Solar  System.     Pp.  xii+459  with  101  illustra- 
tions.    Harper  &  Brothers,  New  York. 

VI.  Preadamites,  or  a  Demonstration  of  the  Existence  of 
Men  before  Adam.    Together  with  a  study  of  their  Condition,  An- 
•tiquity,    Kacial  Affinities,  and    progressive    Dispersion   over   the 
Earth.    With  Charts  and  other  illustrations,  8vo,  pp.  xxvi+500. 
Griggs  &  Co.,  Chicago. 

VII.  The  Doctrine  of  Evolution.    Its  Data,  its  Principles, 
its  Speculations,  and  its   Theistic   Bearings,  pp.   148.     Harper  & 
Brothers,  New  York. 

VIII.  Reconcilation    of    Science    and    Religion.     Pp. 

xvi+403.    Harper  &  Brothers,  and  Phillips^  Hunt,  New  York. 


INDKX. 


Aar,  torrent  of,  45. 

Abbott,  C.  C.  on  early  man,  282. 

Abyss  of  the  ocean,  58 ;  receives  little 
sediment,  66. 

Acervularia,  181. 

Acids  in  the  air,  224. 

Adirondacks,  features  of,  108. 

Mtna,  Mount,  87 seq.',  eruptions  of,  88. 

Agassiz  and  Drift,  15,  45. 

Age  of  the  world,  288,  seq. 

Ages  of  man,  284. 

Air-breathers  of  Coal  period,  175, 245. 

Alaskan  mammoth,  158. 

Amoaba,  200. 

Amphibians,  reign  of,  72;  characters 
of,  176;  diminution  of,  247 ;  a  com- 
prehensive type,  259. 

Andrews,  E.  on  Geologic  time,  292. 

Ant-eater,  Banded,  252. 

Anthracite,  151. 

Anticipation  in  organic  structures, 
258. 

Anticlinal  explained,  76,  77;  in  oil 
accumulation,  137. 

Aphanite,  40. 

Appalachian  region,  267. 

Appalachians,  origin  of,  246. 

Archseopteryx,  261. 

Archegosaurus,  247. 

Argillite,  40 ;  primitive,  225. 

Argonauta,  185. 

Artesian  wells,  96,70;  bored  for  salt,  132. 

Assortment  of  sediments,  46, 187. 

August  meteors,  211. 

Azoic  seon,  230. 

Bad  Lands,  55;  fossils  of,  162  seq.; 

description  of,  162. 
Ball,  R.  8.,  on  primitive  tides,  232. 
Bar  of  Mississippi,  49. 
Basaltic  columns,  94. 
Basin  of  a  geyser,  81. 
Basin  Province,  267. 
Basins  of  Great  Lakes,  279. 
Beaches,  ancient,  of  lakes,  41 ;  of  sea 

shore,  275, 276. 


Becker,  G.  P.,  on  Comslock  lode,  123. 

Bedded,  thin  or  thick,  63. 

Belodon,  248. 

Bilateral  symmetry,  193. 

Birds,  reptilian,  252,  260,  261;  gene- 
alogy of,  262. 

Bituminous  coal,  152. 

Bog  iron  ore,  35, 126, 128. 

Bonanza  defined,  120. 

Bowlders  described,  13 ;  enormous  ex- 
amples of,  16;  most  abundant 
northward,  17;  sources  of,  17,  18; 
direction  of  transportation  of,  21, 
23. 

Bowlder  clay,  20. 

Brachiopods,  189, 193,  234, 242. 

Brains  of  early  mammals,  254. 

Brandon  frozen  soil,  99. 

Brontotheriurn,  257. 

Brontozoum,  248. 

Brown  coal,  153. 

Burns  gas  well,  145. 

Caenozoic,     Great     System,     78; 

Times,  252  seq.;  mammals,  254  teq. 
Caking  coal,  152. 
Calabrian  earthquakes,  103, 104. 
Cambrian,  System,  72 ;  fossils,  190  seq.; 

rocks,  192, 196. 

Cannel  coal,  152 ;  formation  qf ,  246. 
Cafions,  result  of  erosion,  54. 
Carbonic  acid,  in  the  air,  243 ;  removal 

of,  244. 
Carboniferous  System,  72;  fossils,  173 

seq.;  Age,  241. 
Carinate  birds,  262,  298. 
Caspian  Sea  and  salt,  130  seq. 
Cat  family,  297. 
Catskill  Mts.  described,  54. 
Caucasus,  buried  ice  in,  99. 
Caverns  for  human  homes,  284. 
Cement  of  teeth,  155. 
Centrifugal  tendencies,  215,  216. 
Centripetal  tendencies,  215. 
Cephalaspis,  238,  239. 
Cestraciont  sharks,  236, 238. 

(323) 


324 


INDEX. 


Chalk,  169. 

Chambered  shells,  184,  seq.,  242. 

Chamonix  glaciers,  26. 

Cham  plain  epoch,  275  seq. 

Cheirotherium,  177. 

Chimney  of  a  geyser,  81. 

Cincinnati,  geological  situation  of,  76. 

Classification  of  strata,  67,  71,  72. 

Clay  beds  in  the  Drift,  31,  32,  33. 

Clay  iron  stones,  129. 

Coal,  geology  of,  149  seq,,  241 ;  origin 

of,  149,  241. 
Coal  measures,  141 ;  fossils  of,  173,  seq  ; 

of  Cretaceous  age,  172;  of  Jurassic 

age,  250. 

Coal  period,  scenes  from,  241. 
Cobble-stones,  13. 

Coleridge,  on  Chamonix  glaciers,  27. 
Columnar  lava,  94. 
Comets,    208;     nature    of,    210;    not 

natives  of  our  system,  210. 
Comprehensive  types,  254,  258  seq. 
Comstock  Lode,  heat  on,  98 ;  mining 

on,  119 ;  geology  of,  119. 
Concretions  of  ore,  129. 
Condensation  of  first  water, 222. 
Cone  of  geyser,  83. 
Cone,  volcanic,  origin  of,  90. 
Conglomerate,  37;  notable  examples 

of,  37, 38 ;  Carbon  i  ferous,  243. 
Continent-building,  264  seq. 
Continuity,  a  principle  in  nature,  294. 
Contraction  of  earth,  115,  227 
Cooling  earth,  110, 115,  203,  204, 219  seq., 

289. 

Cooling  of  sun,  289. 
Cope,  E.  D  ,  on  fossil  mammals,  166, 

253;  on  reptiles,  172. 
Copper  as  a  bowlder,  18. 
Coral  animals,  235. 

Cordilleran  Land,  233,  235,  265;  subsi- 
dence of,  265,  266. 
Corniferous  fishes,  237. 
Coryphodon,  256. 
Coseguina,  eruption  of,  89. 
Cosmic  dust,  60,  211. 
Cretaceous  mammal,  253. 
Crevasse,  the  Grand,  25. 
Crevasses,  Forbes  on,  28 ;  phenomena 

of,  28. 

Crinoids,  189,  234. 
Crinoids  in  deep  sea,  61. 
Croll  on  geological  climates,  290. 
Crustaceans,  92. 
Crust  of  the  earth,  220  »eq.;  rugged 


character  of  primitive,  221;  thick- 
ened by  sediments,  228 ;  melted  off 
below,  229. 

Cycads,  246. 

Cystids,  190. 

Darkness  on  the  deep,  222. 

Day  after  primeval  darkness,  223. 

Dawson,  G.  M.,  on  bowlders,  16. 

Deep  sea,  58, 169. 

Degeneration  of  types,  254. 

Delamater  gas  well,  145. 

Deltas,  49. 

Deluge  of  Noah,  69,  70. 

Deposits  of  geysers,  83. 

De  Saussure  on  Mer  de  Glace,  27. 

Devonian  Age,  72;  strata,  178  seq.; 
fossils,  180  seq. 

Differentiation  255. 

Digitigrade,  255. 

Dinichthys,  183. 

Dinoceras,  256. 

Dinosaurs,  247,  260. 

Diorite,  39. 

Dip  of  strata,  76. 

Dolomite,  primitive,  225. 

Drift  defined,  18;  its  constitution,  19; 
its  uses,  19;  semi-stratified  condi- 
tion of,  20;  causes  of  same,  21;  a 
northern  phenomenon,  21 ;  suited 
to  human  wants,  33;  soluble  sub- 
stances in,  34. 

Drift  in  mining,  153. 

Dromatherium,  252,254. 

Dyke  or  Dike  defined,  94. 

Earthquakes,  102  ;motionsof,  102; 

waves  of,  103;  kinds  of,  103;  causes 

of,  foci   of,  106;    connected   with 

action  of  springs,  108. 
Eccentricity  theory,  290. 
Egg,  immaterial  force  in,  306. 
Elasmobranchs,  236,  238. 
Embryological  parallels,  299 
Embryonic  development,  296. 
Emmons,  E.,  and  his  work,  109. 
Environment  and  organism,  71  seq. 
Eozoic,  62,72;  thickness  of,  229,  231 ; 

often  at  highest  levels,  78;  rocks, 

197,  230 ;  fossils,  199. 
Eozoon,  199,  232. 
Erosion,  treated,  50;    the   source  of 

sediments,  51 ;  wastes  the  land,  51 ; 

in  the  Catskills,54;  in  Tennessee, 

65;  in  the  interior,  269  ;    by  glacier 


INDEX. 


825 


action,  272 ;  as  a  measure  of  time, 
291. 

Eruptions,  of  Vesuvius,  86;  JEtna, 
87;  Coseguina,  89;  Kilauea,  90; 
other  volcanoes,  90. 

Eureka  mining  district,  124. 

Evolution,  facts  bearing  on,  194  ;  con- 
sidered, 294  seq.;  not  atheistic,  206, 
312;  an  all-embracing  plan,  311. 

Faults  in  mountains, 269. 

Favosites,  181. 

Feldspar  described,  38,  39  ;  primitive, 

225. 

Fern  vegetation  in  coal,  150,  244. 
Fiery  teon,  202. 

Finiteness  of  geological  time,  84. 
Fire  damp,  141. 
Firehole  River,  81. 

Fire-mist,  205 ;  primordial,  205, 214, 219. 
Firn,  22,  272. 
Fishes,  in  deep  sea,  61 ;  reign  of,  72, 

178 ;  fossil,  178 ;  183, 184, 236 ;  lessons 

from,  240. 

Flint  implements,  283. 
Flood  from  glacier,  278. 
Foci  of  earthquakes,  106. 
Footprints  in  sandstone,  248. 
Foot-wall  in  mining,  119. 
Foraminitera,  199. 
Forbes  on  Alpine  glaciers,  28. 
Formation,  defined,  74 ;  the  oldest  not 

sedimentary,  74. 
Fossils,  67  ;  speculations  on,  68. 
Frumento,  Monte,  on  JEtn&,  88. 

Gangue  in  mining,  124. 

Ganocephala,  260. 

Ganoids,  230,  238 ;  prophetic,  258,  259. 

Garden  of  the  gods,  55. 

Gardiner's  River,  scenery  of,  80. 

Gardiner,  3.,  on  Niagara  Falls,  291. 

Gar  pikes,  240. 

Gas,  geology  of,  138, 141  seq;  localities 
of,  141, 143, 144 ;  composition  of,  147; 
value  of,  147;  source  of,  148,  perma- 
nency of,  148. 

Gasteropods,  189,  195. 

Geological  history,  table  of,  75. 

Geology,  where  data  of  are  found,  9, 10. 

Geyerite,  81. 

Geysers  in  National  Park,  81  seq  ;  in 
Iceland  and  New  Zealand,  84;  ex- 
planation of,  84. 

Giantess  geyser,  82. 


Gilbert,  G.  K.,  on  laccoHtes,  95. 

Glacier  defined,  23 ;  movements  of,  28, 
28,  29. 

Glaciers  continental,  270  seq.;  inva- 
sion of,  271 ;  pressure  of  and  conse- 
quences, 275 ;  examples  of,  279. 

Glaciers  of  the  Alps,  description  of, 
24 ;  movements  of,  23, 28, 29 ;  former 
extension  of,  29,  30. 

Globigerina  ooze,  59  ;  in  chalk,  168. 

Gneiss,  39 ;  syenitic,  39. 

Goniatites,  242. 

Gorge  of  Niagara,  277, 278 ;  age  of,  291. 

Gould,  S.  Baring,  on  geysers,  84. 

Grand  crevasse,  25. 

Grand  Plateau,  25. 

Granite  described,  39;  "Quincy,"  89; 
formation  of,  231. 

Granulite,  39. 

Graptolites,  195. 

Great  Plains,  243,  266,  267, 269,  277. 

Great  Salt  Lake,  269. 

Groups  of  strata,  74. 

Gypsum,  geology  of,  130. 

Hadrosaur,  251. 

Haematite,  126. 

Hall,  James,  on  Niagara  Falls,  291. 

Hanging  wall  in  mining,  119. 

Hard  waters,  34. 

Heat,  internal,  84,  96  seq.,  203 ;  in  ar- 
tesian wells,  98 ;  in  mines,  98, 121 ; 
in  tunnels,  98;  rate  of  increase  of, 
99, 100 ;  theories  of,  100 ;  in  deeper 
rocks,  202. 

Hesperornis,  261. 

Hitchcock,  C.  H.,  on  bowlders,  16, 17. 

Hornblende,  39. 

Horse  in  mining,  119. 

Horse  type  in  geology,  256,  263. 

Hot  Springs  of  National  Park,  83. 

Hugi,  on  motion  of  glaciers,  30. 

Human  relics,  283. 

Humphreys  and  Abbot  on  Missis- 
sippi, 292. 

Hysenodon,  257. 

Hyposyenite,  39. 

Ice  in  the  soil,  99;  under  lava,  100; 

erupted  with  lava,  100. 
Iceland,  geysers  of,  84. 
Ichthyornis,  261. 
Ichthyosaur,  251, 260. 
Iguanodon,  251. 
Illinois  flooded,  43. 


326 


INDEX. 


Immaterial  principle  revealed,  306  seq 
Insects  of  Coal  Period,  245. 
luterual  heat,  84. 
Inversion  of  strata,  78. 
Invertebrates,  reign  of,  230  seq, 
Iron  and  its  geology,  125. 
Iron  in  earth's  center,  129. 

Joggins,  coal  beds  at,  177. 
J  upiter  in  his  stormy  stage,  224. 
Jurassic  mammals,  253. 

Karaboghaz,  Gulf  of,  130. 
Kazwini,  opinions  of,  69. 
Kilauea,  eruption  of,  90 ;  lava  of,  221. 
King  Crab  and  his  relatives,  190  seq. 
Knox  County  gas,  142. 

Labyrinthodonts.177,245, 247, 260. 

Laccolites,  95. 

Lacustrine  deposits,  41. 

Lffilaps,  251. 

Lakelets,  origin  of,  280. 

Lakes,  Tertiary,  269. 

Lakes  the  Great,  floods  of,  41 ;  inun- 
dation by,  42,  43. 

Lamellibranchs,  193. 

Laminae,  63. 

Lamination,  63 ;  oblique,  63. 

Lands  of  primitive  times,  233,  235. 

Langford,  N.  P.,  on  "Giantess  gey- 
ser," 82. 

Langley,  S.  P.,  on  solar  heat,  212. 

Lapilli,  86. 

Laurentide  Hills,  112. 

Lava  of  Vesuvius,  85. 

Lavas,  ancient,  91;  on  Pacific  slope, 
92,  269,  275;  in  interior,  93;  ages  of 
eruption  of,  94,  269  ;  Triassic,  250 ; 
Tertiary,  269 ;  Quaternary,  275,  281. 

Lead  mines,  124. 

Leadville  mining  district,  124. 

Lepidodendron,  174, 241,  245,  246, 247. 

Lessons  from  fossil  fishes,  240. 

Levees,  49. 

Lewis,  H.  C.,  on  early  man,  282. 

Lewiston  escarpment,  43. 

Life,  dawn  of,  20 ;  immaterial  princi- 
ple of,  307. 

Limbs  of  vertebrates,  255,  301. 

Limestone,  40;  Devonian,  179;  Silur- 
ian, 186 ;  how  formed  in  primeval 
ocean,  225. 

Limonite,  126. 

Limulus,  190. 


Liugula,  192, 195,  234. 

Links  missing,  304. 

Liquid  earth,  220. 

Lizards,  251,  261. 

Lodes,  28.    See  "  Comstock  Lode." 

Lodestoiie,  127. 

Lost  rocks,  14. 

Machaerodus,  257. 
Mackinac  Island,  41. 
Magnetite,  127. 
Mallet,  R.,  on  earthquakes,  103. 

Mammals,  reign  of,  73;  extinct  spe- 
cies of,  154  seq.,  162  seq. ;  Triassic, 
252;  Jurassic,  253;  in  Bad  Lands, 
163 ;  on  Atlantic  coast,  165 ;  in  Ala- 
bama, 165 ;  Cseuozoic,  254. 

Mammoth,  155 ;  Siberian,  156,  274,  284. 

Mammoth  Hot  Springs,  83. 

Man,  reign  of,  73 ;  prophesied,  243, 302 ; 
structural  rank  of,  255;  in  the 
light  of  science  300  seq. ;  limbs  of, 
302;  birth  place  of,  302;  the  last 
term,  303;  a  cosmopolite,  303; 
marks  a  period,  304 ;  advent  of,  re- 
cent, 304 ;  of  geology  not  inferior, 
304 ;  revelation  of  mind,  305. 

Man,  primitive,  advent  of,  28  seq.;  an- 
tiquity of,  281, 286 ;  a  Mongoloid  in 
America,  282 ;  and  in  Europe,  286, 
304;  a  Glacial  phenomenon,  282; 
contemporaries  of,  284 ;  character- 
istics of,  285. 

Marine  Invertebrates,  reign  of,  72. 

Marl,  35. 

Marsh,  O.  C.,  on  fossil  mammals,  166, 
253 ;  on  fossil  reptiles,  172. 

Marshall  Sandstone,  242. 

Marshes,  origin  of,  48. 

Mashing  together  of  rocks,  116,117. 

Mastodon,  155,  257. 

Mauna  Loa,  eruption  of,  90. 

Mechanical  adaptations,  309. 

Megatherium,  159. 

Meniscoessus,  254. 

Menodus,  257. 

Mesozoic,  Great  System,  72;  events, 
241  seq.;  rocks  and  fossils,  167  seq.; 
246  seq.;  coal,  173;  erosions,  267. 

Metamorphism,  117,  118,  202,  231. 

Metcalf,  W.,  on  Pittsburgh  gas,  144. 

Meteors,  210. 

Method  in  nature,  207,  259,  263,  300, 
301 ;  the  evidence  of  mind,  310. 

Method  of  creation,  294  seq.;  306  seq. 


INDEX. 


327 


Mica  described,  38. 

Mica  schist,  39. 

Michigan  salt,  132, 133;  gas,  143. 

Milwaukee  bricks,  44. 

Mind  in  physiological  activities,  309; 

in  the  method  of  nature,  311. 
Minerals  denned,  37. 
Mines  and  mining,  119. 
Mississippi  River,  sediments  of,  48. 
Mont  Cenis  Tunnel,  98. 
Monti  Rossi  on  ^tna,  88. 
Monument  Park,  55. 
Moon,  origin  of,  219 ;  tidal  action  of, 

219,  232. 
Moraine  defined,  28;  of  continental 

glacier,  273,  276. 
Mosasaur,  171,  251. 
Moss  petrified,  35. 
Mountains,  structure  of,  108  seq.;  of 

upheaval,  112,  227  ;  erosion  of,  112 ; 

of  relief,  113 ;  formation  of,  113,  246 ; 

theories  of,  114;   trends    of,    117; 

thickness  of  strata  in,  118;   syn- 

clinorium  theory  of,  118. 
Mouths  of  great  rivers,  49. 
Mud  from  Vesuvius,  86. 
Murraysville  gas  wells,  145, 147. 
Mylodon,  159. 

National  Park  described,  79  seq. 

Nature,  interpretation  of,  306  seq. 

Nautilus  and  its  ancestry,  184  seq. 

Nebulae,  213,  214  seq. 

Nebular  theory,  214  seq.,  295. 

Neff,  Peter,  and  gas  production,  142. 

Nevada  continent,  267. 

Neve,  22,  272. 

Newberry,  J.  S.,  on  Table  Mt.  plants, 

282. 

New  England  reptiles,  248. 
Niagara  gorge,  43, 277 ;  age  of,  291. 
Niagara  Limestone,  186. 
Nile  delta,  292. 
Northern  Land  of  America,  233,  235, 

264;  uprising  of,  266. 
November  meteors,  211. 

Obelisk,  New  York,  39, 113. 

Ocean  depths,  explored,  56 ;  origin  of 
219 ;  chemical  war  in  224  seq.;  sedi- 
mentation in,  228. 

Odontornithes,261. 

Oil.    See  "Petroleum." 

Oil  regions,  139. 

Old  Faithful  geyser,  81,  82. 


Oldham  on  Earthquakes,  104. 

Old  Red  Sandstone,  184. 

Onchus,  oldest  vertebrate,  238,  239,  301. 

Ontogeny,  297. 

Onychodus,  237,  239,  258,  301. 

Oreodon,  257. 

Ores  of  lead,  24 ;  of  iron,  35, 125  seq. 

Orthoceras,  188,  194,  234. 

Otozoum,  249,  250. 

Outcrop  defined,  67,  75. 

Oysters  in  Cretaceous  rocks,  171. 

Ozark  Range  as  an  obstacle,  43. 

Palaeaspis,  238. 

Palaeozoic,  Great  System,  72;  popu- 
lations, 234. 

Palmier!  and  earthquakes,  85. 

Panama  cliffs,  62. 

Parameryx,  257. 

Park,  National,  described,  79  seq. 

Peat,  153. 

Pebbles,  14. 

Pelagic  forms,  59. 

Periods,  74. 

Perrey  on  earthquakes,  105. 

Petoskey,  fossils  at,  181. 

Petroleum,  geology  of,  135;  laws  of 
accumulation  of,  136. 

Pilot  Knob,  128. 

Pittsburgh  gas,  144 ;  production  of,  146. 

Placers,  96. 

Placoderms,  236. 

Plans  in  nature,  190,  301.  See 
"Method." 

Plantigrade  mammals,  255. 

Plants,  in  coal  beds,  50 ;  of  coal  pe- 
riod, 244;  origin  of,  216. 

Plateau  Province,  268,  269. 

Plesiosaur,  251. 

Ponds  filling  up,  47. 

Porphyry,  40. 

Potholes,  276. 

Potsdam  Sandstone,  111,  192, 196. 

Prairies,  origin  of,  280. 

Preadamites,  question  of,  287. 

Precipitations,  primeval,  225. 

Prophetic  types,  258. 

Protozoans,  reign  of,  72. 

Pteraspis,  238. 

Pterichthys,  239. 

Pterosaur,  251,  260. 

Quartz,  and  its  varieties, 87 ;  primi- 
tive, 226. 
Quartzite,  37,  226. 


328 


INDEX. 


Quaternary,  mammals,  164  teq.; 
events  in  West,  269. 

Rain,  where  does  it  go  ?  30. 

Ramsay  on  lake-basins,  279. 

Recession,  of  Niagara  Falls,  291; 
Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  292. 

Reigns  of  extinct  types,  72. 

Relics  of  man,  in  river  drift,  283;  in 
lakes,  283 ;  on  shores,  283  ;  in  bogs, 
283. 

Relief  in  mountain  features,  54. 

Reptile  monarchy,  246. 

Reptiles  of  Cretaceous  time,  172;  of 
Mesozoic,  246  seq.  ;  diversification 
of  type  of,  250;  a  comprehensive 
type,  260. 

Resolution  of  comprehensive  types, 
259. 

Retrospection  in  organic  types,  258. 

Rhynchodus,  237. 

River  drifts,  283. 

River  terraces,  44. 

Rocking  stones,  16. 

Rocks,  kinds  of,  35;  how  distin- 
guished, 36. 

Rocky  Mountains  lowered,  53 ;  form- 
ing, 267. 

Rotation  of  earth  retarded,  118. 

Rotten  limestone  of  Ala.,  170. 

Salt,  geology  of,  130;  in  sundry  re- 
gions, 132;  impurities  of,  133. 

Sandstone,  40;  red,  of  Connecticut 
valley,  249. 

Satellites,  origin  of,  218. 

Saurians,  248  seq. 

Schist,  mica,  39  ;  hornblende,  40. 

Seaboard  Land,  233, 243,  264. 

Seaweeds,  fossil,  187. 

Sedimentation,  45;  in  ocean,  226,  228 ; 
restricted  to  continental  slopes,  228. 

Sediments,  assortment  of ,  46 ;  filling 
ponds,  47;  in  river  waters,  48; 
thinner  under  deep  waters,  229 ; 
transportation  of,  50;  on  ocean 
bottom,  57,  58. 

Segregations  of  ore,  128. 

Seracs,  25. 

Shale,  40. 

Sharks,  236. 

Sherman,  General,  on  "Old  Faith- 
ful,'' 82. 

Shrinking  of  earth,  107.  See  "Con- 
traction.'' • 


Siberian  mammoth,  158. 

Siderite,  129. 

Sierra  Nevada  uplifted,  268. 

Sigillaria,  174,  178,  241,  244,  245,  247. 

Silurian  72;  rocks,  185;  fossils,  187 
seq. 

Sinter,  silicious,  81. 

Skaptar  Jokul,  eruption  of,  90. 

Smith,  J.  L.,  on  gas  wells,  145. 

Soluble  substances  in  Drift,  34. 

Somma,  on  Vesuvius,  86, 91. 

South  American  quadrupeds,  160; 
continent,  265. 

Spinal  axis  in  man,  303. 

Spirifera,  182. 

Springs  and  wells,  31,  32;  in  Na- 
tional Park,  81  seq. 

St.  Anthony,  Falls  of,  292,  293. 

Stigmnria,  174. 

St.  Peters  Sandstone,  196. 

Storm,  primeval,  222. 

Strains  from  shrinkage,  107,  242,  250. 

Strata,  and  classification,  62;  exam- 
ples of,  63,  64;  formed  by  water, 
64;  not  in  deep  sea,  65;  oldest  not 
yet  seen,  75 ;  arrangement  of,  75, 
often  in  long  folds,  78 ;  situation 
of  newest,  79. 

Stratified  and  unstratified,  39,  62. 

Streams,  sources  of,  32. 

Structure,  geological  explained,  75, 
76,77. 

Submergence  of  Quaternary,  275. 

Subterranean  waters, 30. 

Succession  of  organic  forms,  298. 

Sugar  Loaf,  Mackinac,  42. 

Sun,  a  remnant  of  fire-mist,  218. 

Sun's  heat  in  the  soil,  97. 

Sutro  tunnel,  122. 

Swamps,  origin  of,  48. 

Swarms,  meteoroidal,  213. 

Syenite,  39 ;  formation  of,  231. 

Symmetry,  two  kinds  of,  193. 

Synclinal  explained,  76. 

Systems  of  strata,  72,  73. 

Table  Mountains  95. 
Table  of  geological  history,  73. 
Terminal   moraines    of    continental 

glaciers,  273  seq. 
Terraces  of  lakes,  41 ;  of  rivers,  44, 278. 
Tertiary  mammals,  167. 
Thickness  of  formations,  289. 
Tides  in  primitive  history  of  earth,  219 

seq,  232 ;  in  reptilian  age,  249. 


INDEX. 


329 


Till  defined,  20, 277,  282. 
Tillotherium,  256. 
Time,  geological,  288. 
Tinoceras,  257. 
Torrential  action,  21. 
Tracks  in  sandstone,  248,  249. 
Translation,  earthquake  of,  106. 
Transportation  of  Drift,  15. 
Trap  eruptions  in  Trias,  250. 
Travertin,  35 ;  deposited  by  geysers,  83. 
Trends  of  mountain  axes,  118. 
Triassic,  lavas,  94;   sandstones,   172; 

mammals,  252. 

Trilobites,  191 ;  Cambrian,  234. 
Tube  of  a  geyser,  82. 
Tufa,  35. 

Ulnta  Mountains  upraised,  268. 

Uintatherium,  257. 

Unity  of  nature,  312 ;  evinced  in  light, 
313;  in  planetary  laws,  313;  in 
world  stuff,  314;  in  unity  of  de- 
velopment, 315 ;  in  relations  of  man 
and  nature,  316;  in  mental  and 
moral  faculties,  316;  in  relations 
of  man  and  God,  317. 

Uplifts  of  strata,  116. 

Vapor  denned,  204. 
Vegetation  of  coal  beds,  150,  174;  of 
Cretaceous,  170;  of  Eozoic,  232. 


Veins  of  ores,  128. 

Vertebrates,  earliest,  236;  limbs  of, 
255. 

Vesuvius,  83 ;  eruptions  of,  87. 

Vibration,  earthquakes  of,  104. 

Vogt,  Carl,  on  Archeeopteryx,  261. 

Volcanic  eruptions  of  far  west,  269. 

Volcanoes,  85  seq.,  269;  and  earth- 
quakes, 106, 116. 

Wa h sate h,  266, 267. 
Warm  springs,  81,  83  seq. 
Wastage  of  the  land,  53, 54, 271. 
Wasted  continental  surface,  271. 
Water- basins  in  the  earth,  31. 
Water,  first  condensation  of,  222. 
Waverly  Sandstone,  242. 
Waves  of  earthquakes,  103. 
Wells  and  springs,  31,  32. 
Widder,  fossils  at,  182. 
Will,  the  only  source  of  energy,  309. 
Winchell,  N.  H.,  on  Falls  of  St  An- 
thony, 292. 

World,  has  been  built,  12. 
World-stuff,  208.    See  "  Cosmic  dust. " 
Wrinkling  of  strata,  116, 227, 246. 

Yakutsk,  frozen  soil  at,  99. 
Yellowstone  Lake,  80. 

Zeuglodon.  165. 


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